Split
by Epiphany On Toast
Summary: Sabrina has been hurt. Something terrible has happened, and they don't know how to fix it, never mind about the sudden visitors. How can they fix what has happened? How can they return her to normal? At least, as normal as a Grimm can get...
1. What The Heck Is Going On?

**EDIT**: Guys, these first, like, twelve chapters are all really old. Please don't judge. It gets better later.

**AN: I have found it! The perfect story, abandoned without hope! I will revive it, maybe edit. Definitely edit.**

**This starts right at the end of book seven, except Mirror isn't the Master, and the Scarlet Hand has kind of disappeared. Don't worry, they'll come back, I just need the intro to build up. Believe me; Sabrina is going to kick some sorry Scarlet Hand BUTT when this gets going.**

**chapter 1: newcomers**

All was quiet around the camp. Sabrina sat at her post, high on the water tower she had fallen off of a month ago, and observed the darkness on every side, listening for anything out of sync with the night around her.

The night air was cool against her skin, and she could hear the faint rustle of the night animals in the forest below. A few faint birdcalls trilled through the air.

The stars above her twinkled brightly, in the way you could only see in the middle of nowhere. A few clouds smudged the dark midnight blue of the heavens with the evergreen of the forest on the horizon.

Sabrina sat, watching the smudges slowly fade from a deep gray blue to the purple pink of morning, when she saw the dark smudge that darted across her vision. She tensed, and she could feel Puck stiffen beside her.

"Where?" The barely audible sound blended in with the other night sounds of the woods.

Sabrina pointed, and Puck launched himself off the tower and into the sky, straight for the shadow. As he flew, Sabrina vaulted over the edge of the structure, grabbing onto the rope that was attached to the side to propel herself safely to the ground.

Her feet hit the soil; she barely stopped before she bolted toward the deep shadow where Puck had disappeared.

Scuffling noises broke the silence. Out of the shadows came a figure. A girl? Sabrina didn't take the time to care before she tackled the stranger.

Both girls went crashing to the ground, and in the time it took to look up at her attacker, the stranger flipped Sabrina hard on her back and sat on her. The unknown girl was slim and wiry, but Sabrina had felt the strength that lingered under the surface. Her sleek black hair shimmered in the moonlight, and her yellow eyes shone with fire. The dress slung across her shoulders was a deep blood red, dark as freshly poured wine.

Sabrina struggled, turning her head enough to see what was going on with Puck. He rolled out of the shadows, ready to fight, but was stopped by a figure in the air above him.

Sabrina's breath caught in her throat. Was it really him? It couldn't be.

Could it?

The figure in the sky swooped and dived, coming to a stop in the air right beside the strange colored girl. His appearance destroyed all doubt in an instant.

Puck growled. "What are you doing here, Pan? Shouldn't you be in Neverland?"

There was no mistaking it. The green shirt and tights were enough, not to mention the shock of red hair, the dagger, and the hat. Peter ignored him, instead taking the girl by the hand and gently pulling her off Sabrina.

"Hey!" a shout rang out from somewhere behind them; someone had heard the scuffle.

Robin Hood ran up, and in an instant had nocked his bow with an arrow. "Puck, Sabrina, get behind me. We don't know if they mean us harm or not."

Sabrina scrambled to her feet, pulling Puck behind her. Thankfully, his glare was still aimed at Pan. When the two of them were behind him, Robin straightened, pointing the arrow towards Peter's chest.

"Who are you? Identify yourselves or be killed!" the silver tip of the arrow gleamed in the moonlight.

"Why, I'm Peter Pan, of course," he said, aiming a wink at Sabrina. Her glower barely hid the blush that spread across her face.

"And the girl? Who is she?"

The girl spoke. "I have many names. I am the sun and the moon; the wind in the trees, the water in the stream. I am everything and I am nothing. I am an Everafter who's story may never be told. You may call me Tinkerbell."

Puck's glare turned icy, never taking his eyes off of the two newcomers. Sabrina could hear a feral growl start at the back of his throat.

Robin frowned, but lowered his bow. "Well, then. If you don't mean any harm, then follow me."

He turned in the direction of the cabins, and Peter and Tinkerbell followed suit; Puck and Sabrina trailed a little behind. They walked into the main grounds, where the troops trained in the daytime, and turned to the small cabin in the corner: Charming's headquarters.

Robin stopped at the door, pausing for a second before barging in.

"What the devil is going on here? Can't a man plan some battle strategies anymore?" Charming was standing over a table covered in maps and sheets of paper, a drafting compass in one hand.

"William, we have… uh, visitors." Robin gestured towards Peter and Tinkerbell. Charming blanched, but quickly covered it by shuffling the papers and coughing.

"Oh, well, yes then." He looked up expectantly at Peter. "Well, what is it that you want?"

"We need help. The Scarlet Hand has stolen something precious to Neverland, and we desperately need it back."

"What is it that's they've stolen?"

"Wendy."


	2. Introductions

**AN: I really wanted to wait for reviews on the first chapter before I put in the second one, but oh well. I wanted to get to the story.**

**News report: same as before, but I should be done with it by this weekend.**

**Chapter 2: introductions**

The silence in the hall was deafening. The whole of the Everafter army was assembled, waiting to hear what was going on.

Sabrina and Puck stood at the head behind Robin Hood, watching the two newcomers. Daphne and Red were nearby, looking at the pair with interest. Daphne had her palm in her mouth and was biting hard.

"Who are they?" Daphne looked at Sabrina expectantly.

Before Sabrina could open her mouth to answer, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell turned and knelt by the little girl.

" Well, dearest lady, I am Peter Pan." Daphne's eyes, which were already the size of saucers, grew wider.

"No way!"

"Of course I am. Who else would I be?"

Daphne giggled, then turned to Tinkerbell. "What about you?"

"I'm Tinkerbell." Daphne positively squealed with joy, hugging Tinkerbell tight around the middle. She looked up.

"Aren't you supposed to be tiny and blond with a little green dress to match?" she pointed at Peter, who grinned.

"Stories are not always the ones with all the facts, dear child. I am whatever size I am."

Charming broke into the conversation. "What do you think you are doing, girl? These people could be dangerous!"

Daphne looked affronted. "Peter Pan isn't dangerous!"

"That's what we thought about Pinocchio, child. And they aren't even Everafters! They were just a story made up in England a hundred years ago. "

"We are real," Tinkerbell said.

"Prove it!" Puck's mood hadn't improved at all since the two newcomers had appeared. At his cry, the whole crowd started jeering.

Peter hovered in the air, several feet above the ground, but all that came of it were calls of "Witch's trickery!"

Tinkerbell closed her eyes, and the entire crowd went silent as, before their eyes, Daphne rose and floated beside her.

"Is this trickery?"

Wings had appeared on Tinkerbell's back, she flitted into the air. Peter had grabbed Daphne's hands and started twirling her in midair.

The crowd stared. The silence lasted for a few moments, and then a great burst of chatter erupted.

While the mob of Everafters was milling around, Granny Relda took the opportunity to move up behind Sabrina and Puck.

"Well, old lady, what are we going to do about Tights over there? Have any ideas?"

Granny smiled at the boy. "Yes, _leibling_, of course I have a plan. He's going to stay in your room."

**Haha HA! Imagine his face right now, haHA! **


	3. Decisions

**AN: Okay, this is seriously strange. I mean, I just want to keep writing this. It's insane.**

**To EvilScrapbooker: Thank you! I'm so glad you like this, not a lot of people seem to even care… Also, I just thought you couldn't have the Peter Pan without the Tinkerbell, ya know?**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: decisions<strong>

Charming, Robin Hood, Snow White, and the top officers in the army, along with the Grimms, stood in the tiny cabin that was headquarters, arguing over what to do with the arrivals. Granny was in the midst of a large pile of books, flipping frantically back and forth between the pages. Charming and Robin stood in one corner, loudly voicing their opinions; Snow was gesticulating wildly as she made her point. Red was sitting by the wall next to Tobias, who was trying to calm the child's nerves.

Sabrina sat in the midst of all the noise, watching and thinking.

"They can't possibly be real," Charming was nearly shouting. "They were just a made up story!"

Snow was trying to convince Mr. Seven of her point. "I'm saying that if they weren't honest, they wouldn't have agreed to be examined! The wings and floating is obviously real, so are we still bothering about this?"

Red trembled at the loud voices, and Tobias laid a hand on her shoulder.

"QUIET!" Daphne's voice broke through the kerfuffle, and everyone turned to her.

She turned to Relda. "What do you think?"

Relda snapped her book shut. "I have a theory. It's a little extreme, but it was all I could think of." When no one interrupted, she continued.

"As you know, in the story, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell take Wendy up to Neverland for adventures, and then take her home. It's possible that the Scarlet Hand took her hostage to bait Peter. When they took her, Peter and Tinkerbell would have been up in Neverland, which is why no one but Wendy has ever met them. After being in such a magical place, it's quite possible that Wendy became an Everafter unconsciously. Peter would have no way of knowing until he visited, since he was in Neverland and had no sense of time."

"But if the brothers never met him, how is his story known?"

"It's possible that Wendy had, not knowing that she what she had become, told the story to her friends. J.M. Barrie might have heard the story from a grandmother after the story had died out. He edits it, publishes it as a play, and since it's technically a "new" story, he makes a lot of money. Disney makes it into an animated film, and it comes to be the well known fairy tale it is today."

Charming finally broke the silence. "… I suppose that makes sense. But there's still the problem of trusting them. Do we?"

"We have to." Sabrina was surprised at herself. She hadn't planned on speaking, but if she had already started…

"It's the only choice we have. You saw what Tinkerbell could do. We don't know if that's all she can do. And what about Peter? How do we know he's not just as powerful? We've all heard the stories, but we don't know any more than what's commonly known. We have no idea what they're capable of."

The room was silent for a moment, and then Snow looked at her. "What do you suggest we do, Sabrina?

"We trust them."

O0o0o0O

"No way! I am not going to have Tights stay in my room, and there is nothing you can do to make me." Puck folded his arms over his chest and scowled.

"Come on, Puck. It's not that bad. What's wrong with Peter?" Sabrina looked pleadingly at the fairy boy. Granny had sent her to convince Puck of the idea, and Sabrina wasn't happy about it. She had enough to deal with these days.

"I'm not letting him into my room! He can stay somewhere else. He ruins my reputation enough."

Sabrina was getting really annoyed. "Will you stop whining and _grow up_?"

His scowl deepened, and he turned around to ignore her better. "I'm not doing it."

Sabrina sighed, rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "Look, Granny didn't want me to tell you right away, but the reason we wanted them in your room is you can spy on them. And, maybe, it's possible that while you were spying, you could possibly pull a few pranks…?" She let the end of the statement hang, hoping he would take the bait.

He straightened, turned around slowly. There was a gleam in his eye, and a grin was starting to twitch to life. "Really? I get to spy _and_ prank? This is too good!"

Suddenly, it was like Sabrina wasn't even in the room. Puck was muttering to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I have to go slow at first… If I dump the crud on them too early, they'll get suspicious, and then the whole thing is ruined. No, I'll have to get the tripwire ready… and the tongs. Oh, and the small rodent cannon. That would work great for starters…. "

Sabrina left the room and walked out into the hallway. The ruined top floor was in the middle of repairs, and she had trouble getting around the dwarfs that were hammering down floorboards.

Balancing on the support beams that ran perpendicular to the wall, Sabrina made it safely to the stairs on the other side. She ran down them and out the door, heading to escort the prisoners to their new room.

After the Pinocchio fiasco, Granny Relda had magically moved the house into the fort, foundations and all. Now the only way into the house was through magic mirror or the front door, which was guarded by two semi-trolls.

Sabrina reached the cabin that was used for holding and interrogating prisoners. The door was bolted with an iron lock thicker than her neck, and longer than a grown man's arm. It could only be opened by password.

"Briar," she whispered, feeling the metal tingle under her fingers. The door swung open, and Sabrina stepped into the dark cabin.

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><p><strong>my longest chappie ever! yay me! <strong>


	4. Swapping Stories

**AN: whoa, today was WEIRD. The entire school day was spent doing absolutely nothing. I can live with that.**

**And guess what I've been forgetting the past few chapters? **

**DISCLAIMER: No matter how much I wish it, I do not and probably never will own the Sisters Grimm. Talk about rubbing salt in a wound. Sheesh. **

**News report: I have finished the draft of another page! I only have another 2 or 3 pages to do, so on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday, I will be working on the lineart, and then on Sunday night I'll scan and upload the pages, and the first chapter will be done! And the first page is scanned! Check out my deviantArt to see it. I think the only think on it will be the NGHC manga. **

**Chapter 4: Swapping Stories**

The dark and cool of the cabin made Sabrina's skin tingle. She took a few steps in, and then turned toward the cell door on the right. It was guarded by Lupa, the great she-wolf in Roman folklore. At Sabrina's entry, the giant wolf straightened, coming to attention.

Sabrina bowed her head respectfully to the she wolf. "I am to let them out."

The great wolf bowed her head in return, and without turning around, her tail lashed against the bars, dissolving the magical barriers on the door. It swung open, and Peter and Tinkerbell stepped out.

"Follow me," Sabrina said, motioning towards them. Then, she turned around and walked out the door, not bothering to check if they were following.

O0o0o0O

Once outside, Peter stretched and yawned widely. Tinkerbell just closed her eyes. Sabrina was a little unnerved by their behavior, but she did her best not to show it. She had been the one who had insisted on trusting them, after all.

Since it was around lunchtime, they headed to Mess Hall. The long and low building was reinforced to be used as a hideout in an attack. The big doors were reinforced with bronze, and a spy-hole peeped out from high up.

Sabrina pushed the door open, to find that most of her family was already inside. Looking behind her to make sure Peter and Tinkerbell were following her, she saw them standing right behind her. Tinkerbell still had her eyes closed, and Peter was looking over her shoulder to get a better look inside.

At least, that's what it seemed he was doing. His face was abnormally close to hers, in her opinion. His mouth was right by her neck, and for an instant, Sabrina felt chills race down her back. Peter pulled back, looking at her. "Where do we sit? I don't see any empty seats."

Sabrina snapped back to her surroundings. She scanned the room, and just caught another group of people get up to leave.

"There, problem solved," she said, pointing out the empty seats.

There were four seats empty, so Sabrina took the one next to Daphne, and Peter sat down next to her, with Tinkerbell across the table. Then she realized they didn't have any food.

"Great," she muttered. "I'll go get the food, just wait here till I get back, okay?" Sabrina didn't wait for an answer, just got up and left to join the lunch line. As she stood there, she caught sight of Puck coming into the mess hall. Crap. If he saw Peter, there would be no end to the trouble. She saw his head turn as he scanned the crowd. His eyes passed over Peter, stopped, and flicked back in an instant. Sabrina held her breath, but when nothing happened, she let it out in relief.

What was she so worried about anyway? Puck had already agreed to let them stay in his room, on the condition that he got to prank him.

"Eh, it's your turn, girl," a gruff voice from behind her snapped her back to the present. She turned to the food counter, grabbed three ham sandwiches and some waters, and a few pieces of fruit, and headed back to the table.

Walking back, Sabrina saw that the fourth seat wasn't empty anymore. In it, Puck sat, trying to look anywhere but at the boy across from him. His eyes fell on Sabrina, and then on the food in her hands.

"Awesome," he said. "I'm starving. Got anything else?" He grabbed a banana from her tray.

"No. Get your own." She set her tray on the table in between her and Tinkerbell and sat down. "So, Puck, we were going to eat, and then I was going to show these two to your room, were they'll be _staying_." She emphasized the word, and Puck cringed.

"Don't remind me."

Grinning, Sabrina picked up her sandwich and took a bite. She realized that she hadn't eaten since the night before. And now that there was normal food around, she was willing to eat, and the food was practically gone in minutes, with a few banana peels and an apple core littering the tray. Puck had already gone up for thirds, and was working his way through a Scooby-sized sandwich, similar to the ones in cartoons, complete with olive on a toothpick.

Sabrina had tried to start a conversation a little earlier, but Tinkerbell kept her eyes closed and Peter just grinned at her, his mouth full of food. He kept his mouth closed, of course.

She decided to try again. "So, has there been any more adventures in Neverland since Wendy went home?"

Peter looked blank for a moment trying to remember something. He scratched his chin. "Well, there was the one time that we had an all out war with Hook's pirates. We had them in the Skull Head Cave, and we pushed them into the water. They got away before the crocodile came, though, so it was pretty lucky for him." He shrugged noncommittally.

Puck looked irritated. "Well, I hardly think-"

"big surprise," Sabrina muttered under her breath. Peter chuckled. Puck glared and continued speaking. "Like I was saying, pushing some people into some water, psh. Big deal."

"_You_ didn't seem to have a problem with it the first time we met," Sabrina shot back. Peter looked at her, confused. Puck's glare deepened.

"The first time Daphne and I met him, he tried us up and tried to push us into somebody's pool," she explained. Peter snorted, but tried to hold it back when Puck directed his glare towards him.

"Well, that's not one of my best pranks any way."

"Yeah, and look how _that_ turned out," Sabrina snickered.

"You know about sasquatch? The Jersey Devil? _I _started those." Sabrina twitched an eyebrow. "You don't believe me? A few hundred of years ago, I was flying around north Jersey, pelting squirrels with acorns, when I saw a few goats just hanging around. So I did the obvious. I changed into a deformed goat and ran rampage through the town. It was such a hit, I repeated the act a few times."

Sabrina sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"You know, I'm not hungry anymore. You?"

Peter grinned. Tinkerbell kept her eyes closed; she didn't break her silent streak.

"So, let's go see your rooms then, shall we?"

**AN: I am so happy. And tired. This is so awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and finish lining some more pages. This is gonna be awesome!**

**Please review! I **_**know**_** you have been reading! Do not lie to me!**


	5. Discovery

**AN: so, I got hit in the face with a soccer ball the other day. Luckily, my nose wasn't broken. Wonderful what a bag of ice and some Advil can do, huh?**

**News report: pages 1-4 are up! Check out my dA to see them! Working on the rest as you read.**

**Chapter 5: The Room**

As always, Sabrina was amazed by the view. The doorway to Puck's room opened into a large clearing, surrounded on nearly all sides by a thick forest, just wild enough to be inviting without being intimidating. Birds chirped, kangaroos waited in boxing rings, and pandas slept on trampolines. Off in one corner of the clearing a rollercoaster streamed along, carried all types of wild animals as passengers. An ice cream cart sat was being overrun by a herd of small woodland animals.

Stepping onto the soft grass, Sabrina hesitated for a second, letting Peter, Tinkerbell and Puck enter behind her. When all three had entered, she grinned.

"Well, here's Puck's room, and here's Puck, so, _he_ can give you guys a _tour_!" she said, cheerfully shoving Puck further into the room as she escaped into the hall, shutting the door in his face.

O0o0o0O

Over the next few days, Sabrina experienced a relative peace. There were no skirmishes or any sign of the Scarlet Hand, nor were there any fights, broken bones, or magical mishaps.

Sabrina was bored.

She tried to help out in the garden, but her frustration at the wilting vegetables prevented her from accomplishing anything. She tried helping out in the armory, but the swords that needed cleaning were too big and heavy and sharp for her to come near. She was fed up with trying to help. Sitting in the cool fall air and watching clouds seemed like a good enough past time today.

The leaves fell from an oak nearby, falling on and around her. She felt peaceful, sort of, but she knew that sitting and doing nothing would only get her in trouble. So she got up, dusting herself off as she stood.

What was there to do? Could she pretend to do something and then hide? Maybe… wait a minute, what? Sabrina blinked. She was thinking like Puck. It was almost like he was sitting next to her, muttering about what prank to pull next. "…and then, I would superglue _that_ to his pants… ha! I can't wait to see…"

Hold on. She whirled around. He _was_ right beside her, sitting with his back to the oak tree. _He must have sat there without either of us noticing_, Sabrina thought. _Huh._ Easing herself down slowly, she sat back in her original spot, listening to him grumble to himself.

What was he saying? His voice was so quiet, she couldn't make it out…. She inched closer, hoping to catch something…

A twig snapped. Puck stiffened, and in a second he spun and grabbed onto Sabrina's arm, snarling. Then he stopped, and saw whom he was holding on to.

There was an awkward silence, and Sabrina could feel her face flushing. Puck turned red, but out of anger. He thrust her away from him, turned around, and walked off.

O0o0o0O

Crap. Why did she have to eavesdrop? Why? Had she heard what he had said? The whole plan would be ruined if someone else knew. The plan hinged on only his knowledge, any other link could upset the delicate balance between accident and attack. If she knew what was up…

Crap. Puck collapsed on the couch, folding his arms to think. What was he going to do now? If Grimm figured out what was going on, she would know who did it, and then all the plans for future pranks would be ruined.

…. Hmm. What should he do? Maybe he could wait a little longer to spring the Big One, until she forgot? No, that would be too long to wait. He couldn't go that long between pranks. That's it, he would set smaller ones to go on until later, when he could unleash his masterpiece.

So, now he only had to figure what do set for the level one pranks. He grinned, thinking of the needed ingredients. He would need two larges tubs of gravy, a couple of jars of spicy mustard, some canned peaches, and silly string. His eyes brightened. He could find all that in the pantry!

**Haha, I love writing from Puck's point of view, he's so predicatble and funny sometimes. I wanted to keep this in Third Person Limited Sabrina POV, but I had to give up on that idea for this chapter. **

**And yes, this was just a filler, but I prefer the term "transition chapter". X)**


	6. What To Do

**AN: I have given up on lines. And making filler chapters that make sense. I'm sorry that last one was filler, I just really needed to transition to the right setting for this chapter, and I'm kind of awkward at subject changes. :P**

**Okay, guys. I know there's like, five of you who favorite this stories, and how many people reviewed? Three. C'mon guys! I know you read it, I get all the emails that say you've put it on story alert, but all I get from readers is dead silence. You know how painful that is to me?D:**

**News report: since I am missing my shading pens, I had to put the manga to a stop until the pens are found. Until then, I am going to put up some character designs I've done. Will that make up for it? X3**

**chapter 6**

She hadn't meant to. She had been eavesdropping, of course, but she hadn't wanted him to get upset. Why was he upset, anyway? Had he been planning a joke on her? Or maybe he was madder about the fact that she had listened…

She sat curled up beside the armory wall, her knees to her chest, her head buried under her arms, breathing in and out, for hours. She might have sat like that for hours if she hadn't heard footsteps pad up beside her.

"What?" she didn't bother to look up.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Puck's voice that answered, but Peter's. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. You don't look too good."

She looked up. "That's surprising. Anything else I should know about?"

He sat down, and Sabrina scooted a little bit to make room. "Well, there's the fact that you are currently moping around in the middle of camp, where everyone can see you. Not very private, last time I checked."

She was surprised at his way of speaking; it had changed since they first appeared. "Hey, what happened to the speaking with an accent?"

He grinned. "I can adapt."

She smiled a little, but then remembered what they were talking about. Oh my gosh… I must have looked so stupid…" she buried her head in her hands once again.

Peter chuckled a bit, but it seemed slightly forced. "What happened, anyway? You don't seem like the person to mope."

She sighed. "I don't know why, but I… I was listening in on Puck, and he saw me, and now… I feel horrible. And the worst part is, when he looked at me, it was like he was… disgusted. I don't get it. I feel like I broke something, but I don't know what."

She was surprised at the words coming out. Was that really how she felt? She looked down at her hands.

Now it was Peter's turn to sigh. "You've broken his trust. He probably feels a little upset that you wouldn't let him do his own thing. By eavesdropping on him, you've shown that you don't care about his privacy."

Again, Sabrina was surprised at his words. How could he be so empathetic to someone who had declared himself his mortal enemy? And how did he know exactly how Sabrina felt?

she looked at him. "But I do care. I don't even know what happened, or why, but I wanted to know what he was doing, who he was talking to, I wanted to know… " she trailed off, not sure where she was going.

He smiled. "Well then, that's a different story. If you were listening _because_ you care, then there's something else going on entirely."

"What?"

"Never mind. I don't think you would like it anyway. You don't seem like you would like being told that you like somebody." He winked.

"What?" she felt her face turning red. "No way! There is no way! I do not like him!"

"I never said who."

Sabrina scowled for a moment, but then the melancholy of before washed over her again. "I just want to know how to fix it. Before, we both knew that we would keep each other's secrets, but now he probably thinks I'm just going to go off and blab to everybody about what I heard, when I didn't hear anything! What am I going to do?"

He looked at her a moment before speaking. "There are three things you could do in this situation. You could ignore him, and try to live without the trust you had before. You could run away, avoid him at every turn."

She wrinkled her brow. "What's the third option?"

"You could always go and talk to him."


	7. Apologies

**AN: YAY! IT IS FIXED! I CAN FINALLY USE MICROSOFT WORD AGAIN!**

**I love my mom.**

**I was rereading one of my other favorite books of all time, Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra (book 4 in the Gateway to Foo series) and I was just pretty much skipping to my favorite parts, when I noticed the chapter headings. Man, I wish I could come up with stuff like that. That man is hilarious, like, all the time. I'm extremely jealous.**

**Chapter 7: Apologies**

Talk to him? What was Peter thinking?_ Well, he's right_, thought Sabrina wryly. The only way to get over this one was to apologize to him. Good grief, this was annoying. Apologizing would only inflate his ego. Although, she had broken his trust by spying, so maybe it was necessary. She knew that she couldn't win the war without his help, and that would only come if they were friends again.

She sighed. Better to get it over with quickly.

Sabrina found him by the same tree as earlier, on one of the higher branches, his feet dangling in the air. She called out to him, stepping closer to the tree. He turned, saw it was her, scowled, and then turned back the other way.

"Hey! I wanted to tell you something, but I guess you didn't want to hear it, so…" she trailed off, hoping he would take the bait.

He did. "Wait, what were you gonna tell me?"

"I'm not saying anything unless you come down first." She wasn't going to shout an apology so the whole camp could hear it.

Puck leaned forward, grabbing the branch in one hand and vaulting off the trunk. His wings popped out and he descended, landing on the grass close to Sabrina. "What do you want?"

She looked at the ground. "I'm sorry."

He screwed up his face in confusion. "What?"

Sabrina sighed; she had seen this one coming. "What, you want me to repeat it? I said I was sorry. "

He looked enough more confused. "About what?"

"… You mean, you don't remember…?"

"Uh, no… should I?"

He really didn't remember? But he had been so angry! Sabrina stared at him, amazed. Then, to both of their surprise, she laughed.

"What's so funny?" He looked really confused now. Sabrina shook her head, she barely knew the reason herself, and she wasn't about to make the whole situation complicated all over again. Explaining the past day was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

Puck looked a little disconcerted, and Sabrina waved a hand dismissively. "If you can't remember, it's not that important. See ya."

And with that, she turned around and walked away, laughing the whole time.

**AN: and yet again, I've given you guys a filler. I'm sorry, but I just needed to get rid of the Puck/Sabrina tension yet start the bond between Peter and Sabrina, so that the rest of the story makes sense. This filler was kinda crucial to the whole plot of the story, know what I mean? **


	8. Tension

**AN: wow, this fanpic I was working on is blowing up my brains. The cleanup on that thing is a beast. I had to clean up all the little black marks that were left behind, as well as the tiny bits that the fill tool didn't fill. And I still have to finish the background. Holy fudge sickles, this is going to take forever, but if it looks good, I'm not gonna complain. **

…**too loudly.**

**Also, this one will be from TP Puck POV, cause I really needed to get this one from his perspective for it to make sense. And, yeah, I didn't get rid of the Puck/Sabrina tension. I multiplied it. **

**ANNOUNCEMENT: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE STORY "THE BIRTH OF A PIXIE" BY CURLSCAT, READ IT A.S.A.P. ALL OF IT. It has a really big announcement that I think everyone needs to see. **

**Chapter 8: Tension**

Puck was annoyed. He had so many pranks planned, he had forgotten that Grimm had overheard until after she apologized. How stupid was that? She probably thought he was an idiot now, and even worse, she was spending more and more of her time hanging out with Tights Boy. What was so amazing about him?

Puck's mood didn't lighten, especially when he saw Grimm and Peter sitting together and laughing over something the boy had said. What could that tights wearing, red headed _freak_ say that was any funnier than the genius that Puck himself spouted nearly every moment? From the way Sabrina was laughing, anyone that passed by the two of them would think that a standup comedian had come to town. It curdled his stomach, it was so disgusting. Worse than that puberty virus.

"Stupid Pan…." That was the grumble that seemed to follow in his wake. Every time someone else passed him they could hear it, if they stopped to listen for a second or two. It was hard to miss.

After three days, Puck was getting irritated at minor issues, snapping at anyone who opened their mouth. After three weeks, anyone who didn't want their head bitten off stayed at least five feet away from him at all times. Granny Relda had given up on talking to him, but she still tried to leave some token of her concern, but Puck wasn't paying attention anymore.

He spent all his free time planning and plotting the next prank. He had gone from level one pranks all the way to level nine, but somehow Tights always seemed to escape glop and injury free. It was uncanny. Puck wondered if he was somehow getting tips. But that shouldn't be possible; Grimm had only heard one of his plans.

He was going to find out.

O0o0o0O

The sky was gray blue, the clouds bright and puffy. It didn't look like a day to be locked in your bedroom, thinking over the fight that had just happened only twenty minutes before.

Sabrina and Peter had been sitting, talking about the random things that come up in friendly conversation: the trees, different types of birds, pie (Sabrina wasn't sure how that came up), the internet (this was a long and complicated conversation, because of which Sabrina gave herself multiple headaches trying to explain it), and girl's hairstyles (she wasn't sure about this one either).

They sat under the spreading oak tree in the middle of camp, just talking, when a twig snapped on the other side of the tree. Sabrina paused in the middle of her sentence, peeking around the trunk. Exactly on the other side, almost hidden completely, was Puck. He sat with his back to them, tearing a fallen leaf in his long fingers.

Sabrina shrugged, and turned back to her conversation, but she could feel Puck's presence the whole time; it wouldn't leave her alone. What was he doing there? Oh well, she would just ignore him.

But he wouldn't leave. After twenty minutes she was twitching from the tension that suffocated her like a thick blanket. She was positively squirming from the bad vibes coming off the fairy boy.

Finally, she got fed up. "What the heck do you want! If you're just going to sit there and be depressed, please _go_ _away_!"

He turned around. "I can sit wherever I want! _You_ should move, peasant!"

Sabrina was on her feet in a moment, towering over him. "Whatever. I don't care anyway. C'mon Peter."

And they left, leaving Puck alone to his grumbling.

**AN: guys, you really need to reviewwwwww! I know I'm doing something wrong, and you people telling me I'm doing great are not helping because I know I'm making mistakes! I'M NOT THAT PERFECT! PLEASE, TELL ME WHAT I'M DOING WRONG! I CAN'T FIX IT IF YOU DON'T TELL ME! **

**Sorry for yelling at you, I just don't want to make any more mistakes than I already have. **

**NOW REVIEW!**


	9. AN VOTEEEEE

**AN: The thought of this not progressing… gah! I really don't know what to do with my manga… (my original one, not NGHC).**

**So, I have absolutely no idea which direction to take this after the Puck-is-jealous-and-grumpy stuff. It can pretty much go two ways:**

**A: Puck decides to get even with Peter and tries to go after Tinkerbell (guys, I reaaaallllyyy don't want this to happen, but this road will lead to the climax sooner, so whatever…)**

**OR**

**B: Puck realizes that he was being retarded, small Puckabrina (or big, depends) and then I resume the plot in a slightly different direction.**

**PLEASE VOTE GUYS! I have hit a nice brick wall and I need your help to punch it down.**

**Also, should I put a disclaimer again? **


	10. Strike of the Evidence Rock

**AN: Okay, guys, the four of you have decided: Puck will realize how retarded he was and eventually become less grumpy, although he will still heavily dislike Peter. So now I only have to figure out how to get to the climax in a slightly different way… hmm… **

**And thank you to the two people who voted on the poll, you made me realize that some people do care, and that everyone else would rather see me wither away in a corner. **

**I feel so loved.  
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**Also, I have promised to tell you the general plot of my new manga in my news reports, but as it would take more space than the chapter below, just check out my dA and I will post a journal entry with the general plot on it.**

Sabrina sat down on the edge of her bed, Peter sitting down next to her.

"I just… he gets so annoying! But then after we fight, I feel burnt out, like I've used all my energy. I don't know why he's so mad at me. I apologized to him, and he didn't even remember. What could he be so mad about?"

Peter looked at her for a moment, unbelieving. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

He grinned. "You mean you seriously never noticed? How he always stiffens when we're near him, how he practically growled at me when I helped you up after you tripped? Are you serious?"

Wait, what? Sabrina didn't know what she was supposed to be noticing, exactly. She was already confused enough about the argument to figure out what Peter was rambling about.

She glared at him. Peter chuckled. "You are serious. Good grief, you have to blind to miss it. Even Henry sees it, and it seems like he makes a point to avoid the fairy. And he doesn't like what he sees."

She was mad now. "What is it that I'm supposed to be seeing? What is this thing that is apparently only invisible to me? Don't beat around the bush, get to the stupid point!"

Peter leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "He's totally in love with you."

"Haaaa?"

What?

Sabrina gaped at him. "Wha- gah, oh gosh, you can't be-"

"Whenever he steps into a room, he immediately looks for you. His ears go red whenever you talk to him. His entire face goes red when you talk to me. There is not one thing about him that doesn't say he loves you."

She desperately searched her mind for a comeback, something to prove him wrong. Of course, why didn't she think of that right away?

"What about the pranks?"

"Haven't you heard? A guy always picks on the girl he likes. Like when Wendy- uh, never mind," Peter stopped for a moment, but he soon picked up the pace. "And even the times when he wasn't pranking you, when he was so protective, what do you think that meant?"

She wished she hadn't told him so much. Peter knew enough of their history to come up with almost all of the embarrassing moments—save one. Sabrina had never said a word of the kiss to anyone. She didn't want anyone else to tell her what it might mean. It was bad enough with Peter.

She groaned. "I don't know… I … wait a minute, who told you about that stuff about his ears going red? I certainly never said anything about that. I never even noticed."

Peter shrugged. "Daphne told me"

"When?"

" Like, the first night here."

**Now you see: no PeterXSabrina at all here. Peter is meant for Wendy, Sabrina and Puck were meant for each other. Duh. **


	11. Coping With Possibilities

**AN: wow, I didn't think anyone would like that. Well, I'm glad that chapter's over. I only have to get through the next bit before this really takes hold and goes faster. I'm also gonna try to make the chapters a little longer, k? Also, please PM me if you have a good idea for a bad guy name. I'm having trouble coming up with one. **

**Thanks to the Queen of Sneaks for constantly reviewing, I really do appreciate the attention I get from you. Long and constant reviews make me happy. **

**Kimkat: Thanks, your possibly imminent death has forced me to update on this. I'm glad you like my story, but BAD GRAMMAR? Where? ^(oAo)^ Please tell me so I can fix it!**

Daphne had been enjoying a nice ham sandwich with Red and Elvis in the mess hall, laughing about the pictures they had drawn the day before.

"You gave Puck such a big head, he looks like you stuck a pumpkin on instead!" Daphne snickered. Jack Pumpkinhead, who was sitting nearby, harrumphed and moved away. Daphne shrugged, and Red giggled. Daphne got back to looking at the drawings.

"Well, he's just like that in real life anyway. And holy kumquats, that looks soo much like Sabrina!" Red blushed as Daphne continued to talk. "Hehe, it looks like she's mad at him! Oh yeah, if he did do that to her shirt, she would kill him, no doubt about it!" Daphne sighed. "It makes it really hard to get Sabrina to realize they're meant for each other when he keeps doing stuff like that. She was about to believe me a few months ago, and then he had to dump that bucket of mayo and roaches on her. He's so stupid, and then he saves her life! Good grief, that boy needs to make up his mind!"

Red patted her back empathetically. "Maybe you should just step back and let him try to talk to her about it himself, you know? Maybe he just wants to tell her on his own time."

Daphne looked at her. "You're missing the point! He's not gonna tell her, at least not any time soon! I'm gonna have to be the one to do it! I'll set up a trap, get him to accidentally say something—"

A voice cut in. "No need. She's figured it out just now." Peter sat down next across from the girls. He picked up a crayon before flourishing it and scribbling on the paper.

The girls were flabbergasted. "What? When? How?" Daphne leaned across the table expectantly.

"Easy. I told her."

"You TOLD HER? Just—straight off? And she believed you?"

"She had to. The evidence was stacked against her. There was no way for her to ignore the facts. I didn't even have to mention the fact that he's grown up for her. The other stuff alone was enough. Do you have a blue? "

Red passed him the crayon. Daphne still looked surprised.

"So what did she do? She just believed you, no argument?"

Peter nodded.

"Well, that isn't anything like Sabrina at all."

He shrugged. "After I told her, she just kind of sat there for a minute, and then she got up and pushed me out of the room and shut the door behind me. I didn't say anything else; I just left and came here for something to eat."

The girls just stared at him. After a while, Daphne spoke. "You… left because you were hungry? You didn't stay and see what she did?"

He shook his head. "She didn't look like she wanted to talk. I value my life, so I left."

O0o0o0O

Sabrina sank down on her bed. He hadn't been lying. Puck really did love her, but—Sabrina didn't know what she should do. The thought of seeing Puck after what she had just heard made her stomach flip.

What should she do? She definitely couldn't ask Puck about it. She would ignore it. Maybe if she ignored it long enough, she wouldn't blush every time she thought of him. She would act like nothing had happened. Puck would NOT find out about this, ever. If he really did like her, he would tell her himself, on his own time.

Sabrina sighed. She hoped that he would do it soon. It was better for her to know for sure than to wonder.

O0o0o0O

Puck sat in his room, the only area on the second floor of the house that wasn't being rebuilt. The giant bull had just barely missed the door when it had stampeded through the house. There was a spot about a foot wide where the animal had skirted his room, where the floorboards were still intact. The rest of the hall floor was support beams until you got to the stairs.

Puck sat, immersed in his own thoughts, when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. He looked up, and then grunted. It was only Tinkerbell. He would just ignore her.

"Why do you insist on being so obstinate? Surely you are bored of it by now. I would have thought that you would rather have that girl's attention rather than her loathing."

He scowled. "What'dyou know? Maybe I don't WANT her to like me. Maybe I just want to be left alone."

"Somehow I find that improbable."

Puck huffed and looked away. "I don't care. She can go on and spend all her time playing chummy with Pan, I don't care. If she would rather talk to him than me, then I'll just stay out of her way."

Tinkerbell sat down next to him. "I think that it might be something different. Peter has a way of finding something that needs healing. He seems to think that Sabrina could use his help, although I don't know why." She paused, and when Puck didn't say anything, she continued.

"It could be because someone she loves wasn't as sensitive as she needed him to be."

Puck stayed silent, and Tinkerbell went on. "Just try to let up on Peter, all right? He's just trying to be nice, not to take your place. And besides, there wouldn't be a place to fill if you were there. Sabrina seems to like you, so if you want to keep it that way you should try your best to fix it before it's too late."

She got up and started walking away, but then she stopped and turned around.

"It wouldn't hurt to tell her, either."

And with that, Tinkerbell was gone, and Puck was left to his thoughts.


	12. AN: Sorry guys!

**AN: Sorry guys, I have started a different fanfiction, and it has a deadline that is very soon, so I have to stop all progress on Eternity for a little while, k? Please forgive me for the delay!**

**I swear I will update soon! Just be patient with me, please. **


	13. Apologies Again Amulet? What?

**AN: sooo many ideas for this fanfiction, but I kind of want to keep it between 20-40 chapters here… I'm not sure people would have a positive reaction if they had to read three hundred chapters of my babbling. I have a lot of random things I want to happen, and that make take a little while to get them in order, so please bear with me. **

**Also, I have to use my laptop (which is internet-less) and my school's computers because my parents have semi-grounded me. It kind of sucks. But I digress, and you guys want chapters. So I work on. **

**And another thing. (I know, I know, what else can I have to say, right?) For those of you who have read my story Normal, do you think it would be fun to read about the group's first few months in high school? I've promised my friend that I would put in some important background stuff for the original fanfiction. What'dya think? Good idea or not? I'll probably write it anyway, but I want to know what you think of it. ;3 **

**Now, after a loooong hiatus, I will continue with the story. Hope you like it, and thanks in advance for reviewing, AHEM. *Nudge nudge* **

It had been three days since Puck had apologized, and Sabrina could still hardly believe it. There she was, sitting in the mess hall, eating her chicken sandwich when the seat next to her was pulled out, and Puck sat down, scowling.

"I'm sorry."

Sabrina coughed, barely keeping from swallowing the bite wrong. "What?"

"I'm not gonna say it again," he said, irritated. "It's bad enough having to say it once. I was a jerk, and that's it. End of story, all right?"

What the heck? What had brought this on? Even so, Sabrina was glad he was willing to stop arguing. Puck's weird behavior now was better than his bad mood from before. She could deal with abrupt apologies.

She nodded. "All right." And like that, they were back to normal. At least, if anything in her life could be considered normal in any sense. Mere days after the unexpected apology, the fairy had pranked her again, this time pouring gravy and oatmeal in her shoes.

Well, at least something was predictable around there. She was getting tired of the irregularity of the past few weeks. Too many things were randomly popping up. It wasn't that she wanted a dull, boring existence, but having too many crazy things happening in too short a time was getting exhausting. Couldn't everyone just put their stupid evil plans on hold for a little while?

Her training was progressing slowly but surely. After the dragon attack, Uncle Jake had started training her in swordplay, often having her spar against Puck or one of the other soldiers. Charming and some of the other Everafters had taken a hand in the training too, giving pointers and advice when needed.

Daphne had advanced in her magical understanding; the little girl could control a vast number of the magical trinkets in their uncle's pockets. She could often be found in the training hall, blasting down a giant dummy with a wand or something equally powerful and dangerous. Henry disapproved of the practice, but he grudgingly allowed it to continue, knowing full well what would happen if the girls weren't prepared.

Uncle Jake knew it too. He pulled Sabrina aside one night, looking satisfied. "I have something for you, Brina," he said, pulling a necklace from a pocket. The charm was a blue stone ringed with silver, attached to a thin silver chain that twinkled even in the dark.

"What is it? You know I can't touch anything magical, I'm addicted." _Like __you_, she wanted to add, but she held her tongue.

"That's the thing," he said excitedly. "It _isn__'__t_ magic. It's the opposite: it _absorbs_ magic. Any magical attack and it's instantly sucked in. You won't be affected in the least." He held it out. "Try it."

Sabrina took the chain, fastening the clasp, waiting for the rush of power that usually accompanied magical items. But to her surprise, she only felt an icy tingle where the silver touched her throat.

"I don't feel any power," she said, touching the stone. "Is it supposed to be this cold?"

Uncle Jake nodded. "It'll heat up when it absorbs magic, but then it cools down again. You know it's at its limit when it gets too hot."

"Does Daphne have one?"

Uncle Jake looked guilty, but he shook his head. "She can manage against a magical attack, as long as she has backup. It's you I'm worried about. You can't use any magical weapons, so it'll be harder to fight the Hand. This is to make up for that."

Sabrina frowned; she didn't like the thought of her sister not having any protection. But her uncle had a point. She couldn't fight with a wand like Daphne could, and a sword wouldn't do much damage if she got killed before she swung. At least the necklace ensured she could get close enough to do some damage.

"All right then. I'll wear it."

O0o0o0O

Granny Relda pushed open the door to the council room warily. The meeting had been unexpected, but now that she thought about it, it wasn't surprising. Peter and Tinkerbell had been in the camp for nearly two months and they had gotten nowhere trying to locate Wendy. And then there was the Hand; they had been strangely silent for an unusually long time. It had nearly been six months since the dragon attack.

Charming had been restless, insisting that they were going to spring an attack on them at ay time. He wanted to have the few troops they possessed mobilized and ready for a fight, but Snow had him convinced that they needed to train first. And she was right; the ragtag group of Everafters was almost hopelessly untrained. The soldiers were almost certain to lose if they didn't gain some experience first.

Relda didn't like to be so pessimistic, but the war was making everyone change in one way or another. It was inevitable that the eternal grandmotherly smile would have to be put away for a while; the calculating mind that she was once known for needed to come back into use.

The inside of the council room was untidy, and slightly stuffy from the people sitting at the long table in the center of the area. There was Snow, Charming, Tobias Clay, Morgan Le Fay, Robin Hood, Jake, Henry, Veronica, and a few other of high status in the army. Charming was loudly articulating his point went Relda opened the door.

"—don't have a clue where we're supposed to look! How are we supposed to get Wendy if we can't even find the enemy base?"

Snow opened a large map on the tabletop. "We've narrowed it down to these four areas," she said, pointing to different places on the map. "Only these places are emitting a magical aura that Morgan can sense." The brunette woman to her right nodded. "The Scarlet Hand has such a large number of magical people and weapons assembled that they release a huge aura that can be detected by anyone who knows the right spells."

Snow continued. "Since we can narrow it down to these places, we can send either send four groups of soldiers to scout, or we can send four separate spies to investigate and potentially infiltrate them. The smarter choice would be the spies, because it would mean fewer losses and less of a chance of being discovered."

Henry spoke up. "But what are we going to do if we're wrong? We can't afford to lose anybody. Who could we send?"

"He's got a point," Robin Hood said. "It might be a better idea to send somebody to do a flyover and scout the area that way."

"That wouldn't be a good idea either, they have dragons, remember?"

Charming looked exasperated. "Then how are we supposed to do this?"

Everyone looked at Relda and Tobias expectantly. The two shared a glance, and Tobias nodded at her.

"Well, it's simple," she said. "Morgan, you can do a scope of each of the areas, can't you?"

The sorceress nodded. "As long as you don't need anything too specific. But yes, I can scan through for the girl."

"How would you distinguish between her and the rest of them?" Charming asked.

"She would have a different aura, since she's probably not joining them of free will. Kind of like finding a diamond in a pile of pebbles. Her will would stand out from the evil intention, unless she's gone over to the Hand."

But of course, no one wanted to think of that possibility.

O0o0o0O

"PUCK!" Sabrina's shout echoed in the clearing, sending birds scattering from the trees around her. A few splatters of bird poo landed on the ground around her feet, barely missing her. Stupid birds.

"You called?" The boy dropped from a tree behind her. Sabrina confronted him angrily.

"Why in the name of _flying __Frisbees_ was THIS doing in my bed?" she growled, holding a badger in one hand. The animal looked extremely disgruntled, especially since it was being held by the tail. It kept making snuffling noises and squirming.

Puck grinned. "He must have thought you were pretty cuddly," he replied cheekily. Sabrina glared and opened her mouth to yell at him. But before she could get anything out, Peter walked up between them, holding his hands up in a calming gesture.

"Whoa there, Sabrina. Let's not have any of this anger, all right?"

Sabrina ignored him. "You stupid, smelly, idiotic walking pile of-," the last bit was prevented by Peter's hand on her mouth. Sabrina glared at him, too, wrenching his hand from her face. "And what do YOU think you're doing? I was about to let Stupid over there have a nice big piece of my mind, thank you very much!"

Peter grinned apologetically. "And it would have been fun to watch, too, but your uncle wants you two in the armory ASAP. If I let you rant now, you wouldn't get there till next Wednesday."

Sabrina scowled, but she nodded. "Okay then, let's go."

O0o0o0O

Uncle Jake was standing in the armory when Sabrina and Puck walked in, showing off a magical weapon to Daphne and Red; a giant halberd with a crack in the blade. Jake struggled to hold the weapon, grasping the long handle with both hands, but the tip still rested on the floor.

"So what a considerably strong person can do-," Jake continued his lecture, grunting as he grappled to keep his balance. "Is use centrifugal force to increase to speed and power of the attack. Of course, it's only helpful if the person wielding it can lift it. Someone like me, for instance, would have trouble even getting the tip off the ground. It also means that if the opponent is faster than the guy using this, he's pretty much dead. You would have to have good concentration to use a halberd like this."

Sabrina and Puck came to a stop beside the two girls. "Hey Daph," Sabrina whispered, nudging her little sister. "What's he talking about? What's the weapon of the week?"

"Halberd," Daphne whispered back. "Apparently, this one's really old or something. Some guy was resurrected or something and caused mass destruction with it in the early 1300s. Took another guy with a mucho humongo sword to finally kill him a second time."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. All of the weapons they had in the armory caused mass destruction. "Any special name?"

"Banryuu, I think. Either that or Uncle Jake has a cold." The little girl shrugged and turned back to their uncle, who was still lecturing.

"What the user has to remember," Jake grunted, "Is that Banryuu requires extraordinary stamina to wield. Its weight alone is enough to crush a man and his horse."

He paused, looking at the kids assembled around him. "Puck, come here for a second," he said, beckoning. The fairy boy walked up to him, and Jake motioned for him to take the handle. Puck took it, and Uncle Jake sighed with relief, rubbing his back.

Unlike Jake, Puck held the weapon with ease, looking bored. "Well?"

"Now raise it above your head," Jake instructed. "You can use both hands if you need to."

Puck scoffed and hefted the halberd. The weapon was as wide as his chest and nearly twice as long as he was, yet he raised it easily. "Anything else?"

"Now spin it, like a baton." Puck looked at him blankly. Jake sighed and made a twirling motion with his hands.

Puck imitated it, spinning the weapon; slowly at first, but increasing his speed after a while. Sabrina watched, incredulous. He was really that strong? She knew he had to be, to withstand dragons, but still…

But even then, the rotations were slowing, Puck was losing power. Sweat beaded on his head, and he grimaced. Jake motioned for him to set it down, and Puck lowered his arms and let the halberd drop to the floor.

"Well, kids," Uncle Jake said, clapping his hands to remove the imaginary dirt, "I hope you learned something from that, 'cause this is the beginning of your training."


	14. Plot Twists Again

**AN: I'M BACK. Well, with this story. I haven't updated this since…. November? Meh.**

**I'm feeling kind of depressed right now. I had this amazing JakeXBriar pic for a comp, and right as I was saving it, the whole thing crashed and my masterpiece is gone. *Bawls***

**Ahem. Let me get some control of myself again… think of something happy… oh!**

**THANK YOU, GUYS! You have voted one of my stories to the final round! (eae) *dies from happiness* …. *revives* ... *screams in joy and dies again* …*revives to write the rest of the stories*.**

**But before I get any further, though, I realized earlier that I need a second disclaimer. You'll see in a bit.**

**DISCLAIMER: The first… four chapters of this story's plot do not belong to me. A friend has kindly let me use their plot as a springboard for my own. After that four chapter mark is pretty much where it turns into my plot.**

**Sorry, Trickster88 (if you're reading this) that I completely forgot to say this sooner. :P**

**(And if you are reading this… :D yay~ please review… )**

"Training?" Sabrina looked at Uncle Jake blankly.

He shrugged his shoulders. "You guys need to learn how to defend yourselves-," he shot a look at Puck, who had opened his mouth in protest, "Even those of you who are already somewhat trained."

Puck scowled. "I don't see what I could possibly learn from a peasant."

Jake shrugged again. "It's not what I could teach you to _do_, it's what I could teach you to _use_. I've been cataloging the magical items we have at the camp, and we have enough defense and attack items in stock to spare some for training. So I've been put in charge of teaching you whelps- I always wanted to say that—teaching you whelps how to defend yourself."

Uncle Jake paused, grinning. "And if you're good," he taunted, "I'll teach you how to blow 'em up."

Needless to say, everyone was up for that plan.

O0o0o0O

"Okay, guys. This sword-," Jake hefted a longsword the length of Puck's arm up to the group, "Is called Balmung. It was originally used by a legendary Norse warrior in the fourth century AD. It was quite by accident that it came here." Jake looked admiringly at the weapon.

"So what does it do?" Sabrina asked.

Jake looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's a magical sword, right? What does it do?"

Jake shrugged (he seemed to do that a lot lately). "I'm not sure."

"How can you not be sure?" Sabrina asked incredulously. "You're the magical items expert!"

"Well," Uncle Jake started, "I do know it IS magic, but that's just because it was used by a legend, which is like an older kind of Everafter. In fact, if you think about it, Everafters are legends that have just been written down. So anything used by a legend, a.k.a., an Everafter, is magic, just by coming in contact. But I don't know what it does. It could just be magic and nothing else, it could glow, it could blow up an entire city in one swipe. I really don't know."

"And you're just going to let children use something that you don't even know what it does?" Sabrina was even more incredulous.

"We're not children!" Daphne cried, looking slightly insulted. "I'm almost nine!"

"In eight months," Sabrina shot back. Daphne stuck out her tongue.

Sabrina turned back to her uncle. "Besides, if ALL the swords are magic, that means I shouldn't go near them. So why are you showing them to me?"

"Because," he replied, "You should learn all you can."

She scowled at the generic and slightly vague answer.

"And also," he continued, ignoring the scowl, "Because I have something different for you."

Puck looked interested. Something different? Different usually meant better, in some way. What would Grimm get that was any better than what he, the Trickster King had? He would have to find out.

Sabrina's interest wasn't quite so high. Sure, it was kind of cool to know she was different, but the reason she was different wasn't so great. Her addiction was a weakness.

She hoped that whatever Jake had to show her was amazing, just so it could lift her spirits a little.

O0o0o0O

"Class" ended, and Sabrina took her time leaving the Hall.

She heard a voice behind her. "Brina," her uncle called. She turned.

"Follow me." And Jake turned and walked down the Hall, leaving Sabrina to trot in his wake.

"Where are we going?"

Uncle Jake didn't bother answering, nor did he shift his gaze; he just continued striding briskly past door after door. He counted under his breath.

"Two hundred and thirty-seven, two hundred and thirty-eight…. Ah. Here it is." Jake stopped and turned to a plain-looking door with a triangle shaped marking on it. Unlike most of the other doors, this one didn't have a handy dandy label on it, just the mark. Sabrina wondered what it meant.

Jake pushed open the door. The room beyond was triangle-shaped and bare save a block of stone in the floor. An intricate sword was sticking out of the stone.

"The sword in the stone? But… I thought that was Excalibur?"

"It's not THAT sword in the stone. There were a lot back in that time period, actually. Pulling a sword from the stone was a popular rite of passage for knights and young boys. This one isn't even stuck. It rejected any sheath it was put in."

Sabrina eyed the sword uneasily. "What do you mean, 'rejected'?"

"Well, from what I could make of it, the sword has a… consciousness of sorts." Jake scratched his neck. He couldn't take his eyes off the sword, either. It was as if something was tugging at his gaze.

Sabrina stepped forward, peering at the hilt. It had the same triangle symbol as the door, and the hilt was shaped like wings, sort of. "So… it's alive?"

"You could put it that way." Jake pulled another of his shrugs.

"Why are you showing it to me?" Daphne was the better one with magic, as everyone knew. So why her?

"Because I don't think it's magic, exactly. I think the magic has made it alive, sure, but it isn't in itself a magical item. So you shouldn't get addicted to it. Also, I thought Daphne holding it, and Puck… well, he just wouldn't appreciate it as much, coming from me."

Sabrina raised an eyebrow at him.

Jake shook his head. "Whatever, you know I'm right. Anyway… ," he trailed off, giving a meaningful glance at the sword.

"Oh. Right."

She clasped the handle with both hands, expecting the sword to have some resistance, but instead the sword slid out with less than a whisper, making her stumble a bit.

"Whoa." The blade was long and sharp, thinner at the base than the sides, yet coming to a frighteningly sharp point at the tip. What little light was in the room reflected off the metal in bright flashes.

"Okay, Brina," Uncle Jake said briskly, turning to the door. "Now we're gonna see what this sword can do, eh?"

But Sabrina didn't answer him. She couldn't hear him.

O0o0o0O

Sabrina wasn't sure where she was. All she saw was a vast whiteness around her, but when she tried to focus on one particular spot, like right ahead, the whiteness faded a bit, and colors floated through. Although—something was not quite right with these colors. They were beautiful, yes, but they were strange, not like any colors she had ever seen in her life. She didn't know how to describe them.

Somewhere in the distance she heard a murmuring, but it was faint and she couldn't make it out.

**::You have pulled us out?:: **

A voice sounded from all around her, impossible to pin down. "Who are you?" She called, searching in the whiteness for someone, or some_thing_, else.

**::We are the wind that cuts the trees, we are the piercing light that slices the dark, we are the sword that kill all evil and points the hero on his way.:: **

This sounded like what Tinkerbell had said when first asked who she was. So this entity, whoever it was, was probably just as stuck-up as she was.

_Brilliant. _

**::You pulled us out?:: **The voice asked again.

Sabrina blinked in confusion. Pulled 'them' out? The only thing that she had pulled on recently was—

"So you're that sword, then?"

The voice sounded indignant. **::'**_**That sword?'**_** We are the most ANCIENT of swords, surviving the ages when elves roamed the forest, when the great forges of Dal'emeir rumbled with fire and smoke. We are the only sword that is older than humanity and all it's scrambling. We are not just 'that sword.':: **

Sabrina was tempted to ask its name, but it would probably just start lecturing again. She might as well ask something more helpful if she was going to have to sit (stand, rather) through another speech. "Where am I?" She didn't bother shouting. It could probably hear her perfectly well.

**::You have pulled us from our prison, so we began to release the Hero's Change. But something went wrong. We couldn't make the change completely, so we have taken you in here to assess the block. Something on you is trying to preventing the Change.:: **

"The 'Hero's Change?'" She didn't mention the bit about being 'inside the sword.' That was too weird for her to digest.

**::Ancient magic to help you destroy the Evil. We were sworn from the beginning to help any hero that can draw us from the prison.::**

"What exactly does the Change do?" Sabrina was getting a little worried now. If the Change was only halfway done, what happened outside the sword?

**::It makes the hero split into five of himself, so that he can attack the enemy on all sides.:: **

WHAT?


	15. Waiting For The Catch

**AN: Well, it happened again. I got grounded. Stupid Spanish. The grounding should be over soon, as long as I get the next few assignments in. So wish me luck and un-procrastinate-ness! **

**That wouldn't be SO bad, except it means that I can't finish my SG Valentine's comp, unless I do it non-digitally. That's not that horrible either. I mean, I have some special paper I could use, but the only problem would be getting a digital copy. I'll have to ask my mom to help me photograph it or something. Meh, I really wanna win this one! After losing (not really, since my main entry wasn't even finished) the last one, I want to make a super big impression! No longer a second rater will I be! \(*a*)/**

**So, guys. I have nothing to bribe you with, except for art. If I win, I'll give all my reviewers a great big SG commission! All the main characters: Sabrina, Puck, Daphne, Jake, Granny, Veronica, Tobias, Henry, Briar, Mustardseed, Moth, Mirror (evil or not), Elvis, everybody. **

**Why do I want to bribe you? So I can win TBSGS2011, of course. I mean, Lara's got the five day update thing, and.. well, that's the only bribery I've seen, but anyway. Vote for me and get the giant commission :D**

**And, you can vote for both of us, anyway! So you can get the five day update AND a giant commission! :D:D:D:D**

**Now: On with the story before I completely forget what I said last chapter! **

As he crept through the Hall after Jake and Sabrina, one thought entered Puck's mind: This place was HUGE. It must be miles, at least. He wondered idly how many people had gotten lost and starved to death. That would've been cool to watch. He'd never seen anybody starve to death before.

Jake finally stopped walking. He turned to a door and opened it with a weird-looking key; it looked like a triangle on a stick. Grimm followed him into the room.

Puck was still a few hundred yards down the Hall from the door. His wings popped from his back and he flitted to it, making sure to go slowly so the others wouldn't see him.

He snuck up to the doorway, close enough to hear the two talking.

"—are you showing it to me?" He could hear Grimm say.

"Because it isn't magic," Jake replied, and then he launched into a long and boring spiel about magic and living and addiction and all that crap. Puck zoned him out without a problem, focusing instead on scooching closer to the opening so he could actually SEE what was going on.

He poked his head around the doorframe cautiously, hoping that he would remain unseen. It would really stink if Grimm found HIM snooping. He'd be called a hypocrite.

But when he actually saw what was happening in the room, all thoughts of possible future insults left his mind.

He didn't register Jake's surprised look, nor did he register the sword in Grimm's hand. All he saw was the stiff way she was standing, her eyes wide with shock, her mouth half open in a scream.

O0o0o0O

"What do you mean; 'split into parts'?" Sabrina wasn't sure if shouting was necessary, considering she was _inside_ the sword, but she didn't exactly care at the moment. Her brain was still trying to register the whole 'split into pieces' bit.

**::Our magic splits the hero into five different parts, each one the same as the rest. Each piece gets a copy of the sword as well.:: **

So it was like cloning? …Well, at least it was better than getting chopped to bits.

Wait… the sword had said that something had _stopped_ the Change from completing. What exactly happened then?

"You said… you said that the Change wasn't completed. What does that mean?"

**::The Change is incomplete. Instead of five whole parts, only shards were produced, slivers of the original. The copies are not whole, and the swords are unfinished also.:: **The voice sounded put out, as if it had wanted was to get a book from the library that was already checked out by somebody else.

"So… this is bad, then?"

**::Yes.::**

Sabrina didn't know if swords could use sarcasm or not. It seemed like a fitting time for it, though.

"Why did you bring me here in the first place?"

**::To complete the Change, the hero's soul has to be inspected and reproduced. Your body is still outside of us. We had to examine every piece of you to make a whole Change.::**

Examine? Like, close scrutiny, looking-through-every-facet-of-your-personality type examine? Sabrina shivered, then remembered that she wasn't even physically there. How the heck did that work?

"Do you know what exactly is going on in the outside world?" For the first time since arriving in the sword—gosh, that was so weird to think about—Sabrina wondered about her uncle. What was he seeing right now?

**::We have no way to observe the outside world. Swords have no eyes. We have to sense the doings of others.:: **

So it didn't know. She only hoped that nothing too bad was going on….

O0o0o0O

Puck stared at the seemingly frozen Grimm in front of him. She hadn't moved since he had entered the room, still staring straight ahead, face contorted in horror, gripping the sword in her hand tightly. Puck had finally taken notice of the weapon after a few moments of initial shock. He didn't pay much attention to it, though. Instead, he whirled at Jake.

"What happened to her?" he demanded. "What did you do?"

Jake was still staring at his niece in disbelief. He ran his hand through his hair distractedly, looking bewildered and slightly frantic. "I don't know what happened. She picked up the sword and just—froze. I don't know." He shook his head, rubbing his face in despair.

Puck furrowed his brow, thinking. (He didn't LIKE thinking. It took too much energy.) Eventually, he let out a huff of frustration. This was getting him nowhere. Grimm wasn't moving anytime soon, and since Jake wasn't coming up with anything, they would have to get her back to the camp so the Old Lady could tell them how to fix it.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and hefted her up, flying out into the Hall. The wide space was perfect for fast flight. Puck let 'em rip; zipping down the path he had used so carefully only minutes before.

In no time, he reached the entrance to the house and flew out of Mirror's temporary room, past the construction site, and burst into the medical tent.

Relda, who had just been having a nice chat with Nurse Sprat about the benefits of a balanced diet, immediately sprang from her chair and rushed over to the two of them.

"Leibling-! What happened?" She cried, taking hold of her granddaughter's hand. Puck still hadn't put her down. He hurried to put her into onto a cot.

"I don't know what happened," he answered. He made sure that the sword wasn't going to stab Grimm or anything and turned back to the Old Lady. "I went into the room and found her like this. Jake said he didn't know what happened either."

Relda looked around, searching for her son. "Where is Jacob?" She looked at Puck anxiously. "Has anything happened to him?"

He shook his head. "No, he was fine. I left him because I had to bring smelly back as quickly as possible," he said, quickly returning to his usual attitude. It was much easier to do now that he was sure Grimm was safe. At least, saf_er,_ anyway.

O0o0o0O

"What did you do to Sabrina?" Henry's angry voice sounded through the tent as he headed straight for Puck. "What did you do to my daughter?" He grabbed the fairy boy by the shoulders, a wild look in his eyes.

Puck shoved the man's hands away from himself. "I didn't do anything to her. Besides, if I hadn't found her and brought her here, she would have died," he said defiantly. "I saved her butt, just like I always do."

_Now shove off,_ he was about to add, but something out of the corner of his eye stopped him short. Puck turned to it and his eyes widened in astonishment.

Grimm lay there on the cot, same as he had left her, except—something was off. Her expression had changed from one of horror to one of pain, her face contorting in agony.

And then—a haze appeared around her, floating translucent colors that wavered and threaded themselves around one another, making forms in the air. The forms flickered, shifting and weaving around the tent and out into the camp, and like that… they were gone.

O0o0o0O

It had been three days. Three days since Grimm had been paralyzed. Three days, and no movement save the slow rise and fall of her chest. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep (from what the family could tell), and she didn't speak. Her eyes didn't move, and eventually Nurse Sprat had closed them. "It's creepy," the rotund woman had explained. "And besides. Now it looks like she's sleeping."

Puck didn't answer her. He was busy watching the comatose girl for any signs of life.

No, not life. Nurse Sprat had checked her heartbeat, and although it was agonizingly slow, it was still going.

So it wasn't life Puck was watching for. He was looking for consciousness, awareness, emotion, something. Something that told him Sabrina Grimm was still in there, even if she couldn't come out.

It was painful, physically painful, to watch her lay so silent, so… nonexistent. If not for her hand in his, he would have thought she was only an image.

The others still visited, Marshmallow especially, but Puck didn't even bother to leave the tent. He didn't feel like going and seeing other people walking around, living their lives, when Sabrina was in the tent, lying still and silent. So he got his minions to bring his food, which he barely ate anyway, and he cut his time away to just bathroom breaks.

It was sort of incredibly boring, if he thought about it. All he did in there was sit and watch Grimm all day. But somehow, it was so tense and anxious that it didn't seem like sitting. It felt like watching someone at the edge of a cliff, and knowing they were going to fall sometime soon if they weren't careful, but all you could do was stand and hope they could catch themselves.

That's what he was doing. He was waiting for Sabrina Grimm to catch herself.

O0o0o0O

Puck was just about to possibly close his eyes and sleep when he heard a sigh behind him. He turned to find Jake pull a folding chair next to his. The frazzled looking man ran a hand through his hair, leaving it sticking on end.

Jake sighed again, looking at his niece wearily. Puck felt just a little sorry for him. So much happened to his family members; and Jake had blamed it on himself.

"You know," Jake said, sitting down, "I think she's never slept this quietly."

She wasn't sleeping. She was in a coma. Puck wanted to growl at Jake to go away. His pity only went so far before he hit a solid wall of annoyance. But he knew that Jake was probably taking this harder than the rest of them. He didn't say anything.

Neither did Jake, and the two of them sat in silence until Puck decided he was going to drown in the waves of self-loathing Jake was giving off. He left.

Jake didn't even look after him as he went.

O0o0o0O

When he was sure the fairy boy had gone, Jake put his head in his heads and finally let his mind think the thoughts he'd been holding back for three days.

How could he have let Sabrina go and touch that sword, something magic that he _didn't know what it did, _and let this happen? He had given her the amulet, which would have hopefully offered some sort of protection, but still… His niece, his own niece, had been put under a coma because of something HE showed her.

And not just Sabrina. Thoughts of his father, fleeting images of Briar cut through his mind. His dad… He had lowered the barrier and let the Jabberwocky out. He had pulled Briar into the whole mess. Now it was Sabrina.

_Who would be next? _ The thought whispered grimly and painfully through his consciousness.

He didn't know. He just… _didn't know._ For all that he did know, it could be anyone, anyone he came in contact with.

Jake felt tears pricking up, but he didn't bother to wipe them, instead letting them fall to the floor at his feet.


	16. Time For Some Angst, Unfortunately

**AN: Okay. I'm ticked off. Not AT anybody, but still. My iPod was stolen/is missing, and I'm super tired from a late-night homework session. I had to send an email and ask around for my iPod, which nobody replied to. **

**And sorry guys, I'll try to have a better update schedule, but the thing is: I'm lazy. It's hard to break my lazy habits for anything, so just, try not to get mad at me. **

**You know what would motivate me though? Reviews. I see all these emails saying people are favorite-ing and alerting on this story, and yet I get about three reviews PER CHAPTER. I can see how many people have read this, you know. The last chapter drew almost THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE overall. I got THREE FRICKING REVIEWS. That's only ONE review per HUNDRED READERS. (I love you three people. Just sayin'.) **

**Okay. I said I wasn't ticked off at anybody before, but now I am. Seriously, guys. *huff***

**Alright. I'll try to get to something happier. Oh right, I got second place in TBSGS2011, guys! :D Since I got that far, I guess I'll do the picture, but only if you guys REVIEW and tell me you want me to do it. I can't know what you want me to do unless you tell me. **

**So. On to the chapter, before I get too mad to focus.**

Three more days passed before anyone knew what the strange flickering forms had been. One of the squads sent after the Scarlet Hand, the one sent east, had spotted a person running through down the riverbank. They hadn't been sure who it was, but many of them speculated it had looked a lot like Sabrina Grimm. They weren't sure, but the Grimms were. It definitely wasn't Sabrina, and Relda called a meeting in Charming's cabin to discuss it.

"I'm going after it," Henry said, gritting his teeth. "I want to know what it is."

"Now Henry," Relda said, a worried look on her face. She put a hand on his back comfortingly. Henry ignored it.

"It's not my daughter. We all know Sabrina's right here in camp, so what's out there? What if that's what made her like this?"

"Just… be careful." The old woman sighed. She wished she could have gone herself, but the cold weather was not doing her old bones any good. She had been ordered by Sprat to stay in the camp.

"I'll be going with him." Jake stepped from the shadows, revealing his hollowed looking face.

Relda looked at her sons despairingly. "Don't do anything dangerous," she ordered. "You must come back as soon as possible, and safely, with or without this mysterious person."

Veronica walked into the cabin. She had just been with the comatose Sabrina, and she looked just slightly less worn out than Jake did. Her hair was a mess, and her lids were puffy from crying. She looked around the room, seeming to instantly understand the situation. She walked to her husband.

"Be safe. Do whatever it is you're doing and _come back to me safe_." She laid her head on his chest as more tears slid down her face.

Henry hugged her tenderly. "I promise."

O0o0o0O

Puck smirked grimly at the soldiers in front of him. Seeing his look made them shift uncomfortably. Suddenly the fairy's humorous—if scary—expression was replaced by stormy suspicion. The Everafters scooted back as far as they could without drawing attention.

"What do you mean; you don't know who it was? Didn't you see it?" Puck leaned his face in close to one of the men, who cowered a little.

"Well, …sir… it was dark, and whatever was moving was really fast," the man stuttered. Well, he was really a beaver, but his human guise was better for the war.

Puck raised an eyebrow. "It was dark," he repeated incredulously. "This could possibly be the thing that paralyzed Grimm, and it was _moving too fast_?" He turned away from the soldier, slamming his fist into the table instead. "It might have even been someone that knew how to solve this, and you let it get away!"

"We weren't TRYING to let it get away," somebody muttered.

Puck looked at them angrily. "Obviously, you numbskulls weren't TRYING to do anything. I've had enough of this nonsense."

He stormed out of the tent, already letting his wings out. He took off, clearing the camp walls in seconds.

"If you want something done right," he muttered, "You have to do it yourself."

Now where was the fake Sabrina last seen? The report had mentioned something about the riverbank; he would check there.

After twenty quiet minutes, he finally arrived at the river. Dropping silently to the muddy ground, Puck treaded carefully, scanning the area for tracks. There were lines of small, scattered animal tracks all over the place, with the occasional print that looked human.

Puck kept looking.

Eventually, he spotted them—a set of human footprints, about Grimm's foot size, headed south down the riverbank. He followed.

The prints led Puck through thick undergrowth and gnarled-looking trees that seemed to glare down at him. The leaves snatched at his hoodie and jeans, the branches shaped like gnarled hands reaching out at him, grasping at him. It was creepy. Creepy enough to make Puck start to wish he could go back to the camp, back to where the trees didn't look like they wanted to eat you.

Puck scowled, brushing the feeling away. The trees were of no concern to the Trickster King, especially when he was on a mission. And this mission was especially important.

_Wait a minute. _Puck stopped short, slapping his forehead in exasperation. _Why didn't I think of it earlier?_

He pulled out his flute and blew a few notes. Instantly he was surrounded by his minions. They smiled wickedly at their master.

"What would you have us do, O Stinky One?" they asked, eager to inflict some misery. "Would you have us bite the blonde girl again?" they cackled.

Puck smiled grimly at them. "No, as fun as that would be."

An audible sigh came from the swarm. "As you would have us do, O King Of All Things Disgusting."

"Don't worry," He reassured the bug-like creatures. "You still get to do something fun."

They looked eager again, and Puck felt just a little bit proud. His minions were turning out so well.

"I want you to find the blonde girl. She's in these woods, somewhere close. Once you find her, tell me immediately. Understood?"

The pixies nodded a little glumly. How was a rescue mission fun?

"Oh, and another thing," he added. "Feel free to bite if she attacks you."

The pixies' mood improved enormously. They got to bite her!

O0o0o0O

_**She didn't know where she was. She'd been running through these woods for so long. Everything looked the same. All the hands, reaching down for her, ready to snatch her up and eat her. In one bite. She'd be gone, just like that. Eaten by a tree. **_

_**Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Then maybe she would know who she was. Maybe this fear would go away. This constant fear, fear of everything. What if she died? What if the trees really DID reach down and grab her? What if the leaves she was touching were poisonous? That sound, was it just her imagination? Or was it a bear, ready to eat her? **_

_**All she felt was terror. Pure fear. Uncertainty ripped at the edges of her very thoughts, threatening to drown her in the icy cold of the dark, piercing madness. **_

_**What if she went mad? She knew what madness was, though she didn't know how. **_

**_How did she know? How did she know anything? She'd only been alive for three days, and yet, she had memories, years of them. They weren't complete—no, they were spotty at best—but still, there were instincts, things that she _knew, _and she had no idea how they had gotten there. _**

_**The memories made her wish that she hadn't changed. The her from the memories was strong, even if she was stubborn. That her had friends, had a home, that her was willing to die for her family. That her HAD a family. That her had courage. **_

_**And now, she was running in the forest, unsure of how she'd gotten there, or how to get home, or even WHERE home was. **_

_**Where was it? How could she get there? When would she get there? Would she live? Would she die? The questions swirled in the darkness, and the icy terror returned, clutching at her thoughts. **_

_**And then the lights appeared. **_

_**What were they? Some kind of bug? A memory came to the surface—pixies, they were called. The memory didn't bring fear, just pain. **_

_**But pain was scary now. Pain made her want to cry. Crying made her want to crawl away from everything and hide for a while. She felt like doing it now, but there was nowhere to go. She wasn't going to get near the scary trees. There was nowhere to move to. **_

_**The pixies came closer.**_

_**She took a teeny step back, careful not to touch any trees. A few of the pixies broke off from the group and flew away, back into the forest. The remaining ones flew closer again. **_

"_**What do you want?" her voice came out in a squeak. **_

_**All she heard from them was chittering. Somehow, the chittering sounded menacing to her. She tried to back up more, but the trees were right behind her. There was nowhere to go. **_

_**The fear rose in her throat, and she could feel herself lose control. Her hands clawed at the air around her, at any of the pixies that dared to approach. She didn't know if she hit any, and she didn't care. All that mattered was getting away. Getting away alive. **_

_**The pixies smiled, smiles that would have made her blood run cold if she were not already drowned in panic. **_

_**Then they attacked, easily dodging her fingers as she clawed frantically at them. They whipped to any open skin—her face, her neck, her hands, her ankles. She felt pain, like little stabs of a needle, she felt it everywhere. **_

_**She screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed, her voice trembling in the horror of it all. The fear, the pain, the icy terror that was freezing her insides to a block of ice—all of it. **_

_**Tears ran down her face, but she didn't feel them. All she felt were the tiny needles of stinging pain on every inch of bare skin, and the cold, ever-present fear. **_

_**She screamed again—although she knew it was hopeless. Nothing would come to her aid. She was alone in the forest, alone with the biting pixies that seemed to like hurting her, the scary trees, and, worst of all, alone with the unending questions. Somehow, the thought of more questions, all unanswered, was too much.**_

_**Something cracked, inside. She faintly wondered what it was, before she fell limply to the ground. **_

O0o0o0O

Puck heard the screams, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It sounded like Grimm's scream…

He flew towards them, whacking branches out of his way. Panic stirred slowly in his gut, beginning to rise into his throat, but he pushed it down. This wasn't Grimm. This wasn't Grimm.

Another scream sounded. It sounded just like her. Could it be her?

Puck burst into a clearing, and what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks.

It wasn't Grimm. It wasn't. Grimm was in a cot in the camp, in a coma. This wasn't Grimm.

But it looked _just like her. _Every detail was the same, except….

Grimm wouldn't be lying on the ground that way. She wouldn't be curled up in a ball, looking so helpless. Grimm would have been fighting back. And she would have been winning.

And the eyes. The eyes were wrong. They were still open, even though the girl was obviously unconscious, and they looked… empty. That wasn't Grimm behind those eyes.

Puck ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. This was not what he'd expected. He'd thought he would find some sort of monster, or maybe a Scarlet Hand soldier, but this….

He hadn't expected feeling quite so hollow, either. Why was this affecting him? This wasn't Grimm.

It wasn't. It couldn't be, it wouldn't be, and never was.

But still... the thought lingered. Puck hated the uncertainty. So he'd make it disappear.

He stepped over to the limp form on the ground and roughly picked it up. He refused to call it "she", at least until he was completely sure what it was. And with the unconscious thing hefted over his shoulder, Puck flew back to camp.


	17. Fear Drenched Memories

**EDIT: **I accidentally uploaded the wrong chapter, but it's fixed now :D Please excuse any anger I might vent at you guys in the AN below. I'm kinda stressed right now.

**AN: Seriously, guys. This isn't funny. I can tell EXACTLY how many people have read this, and the review count is pitiful. I really want to be nice to you guys, but I need to get a little love to give it. **

**So, I'm gonna do something drastic here: I SPIT IN ALL YOU NON-REVIEWER'S FACES. With virtual spit, since you know, it's the internet. And if you've reviewed, then you are safe from the spit. **

**I wouldn't be NEARLY this cranky if you'd review, ya know. **

**Now on to the story, because I'm a pushover and not nearly as nice as Lara D or Curlscat. **

Henry and Jake were halfway to the riverbank when they spotted Puck in the air, flying towards them fast.

"What in the-," Henry muttered. "What is that fairy up to?"

Jake shrugged. "I dunno, but—hey," he said, his attention drawn to the figure the fairy in question was holding. "What's he carrying?"

It was Henry's turn to shrug. "Not a cl—Sabrina?" The girl in Puck's arms looked just like his daughter. But it _couldn't _be Sabrina. His daughter was in a coma in the medical tent, in the camp. He had been to see her earlier, only a few hours ago! It couldn't be her.

Jake, on the other hand, knew exactly who it was. Those long nights he had spent researching the sword had paid off. He knew it wasn't his real niece, just a copy.

"No," he replied. "It's not Sabrina."

Henry looked at him incredulously. "What do you mean, it's not Sabrina? What is it, then?"

"A copy." Jake squinted as Puck got closer, into the path of the sinking sun. "A magical artifact—yeah, yeah, don't look at me like that—copied her, trying to make more than one of her. I don't completely know why, but I do know the process was partially stopped by an anti-magic charm I gave her. So the copy that Puck's holding isn't whole. She probably only has part of Sabrina's memories and feelings, and if I'm right, she might just be an embodiment of one of Sabrina's emotions."

Henry stared at the copy stiffly. "So it's not what made her like this?"

"No," Jake answered.

There was a pause. "Is there a way to fix it?"

Jake sighed. He'd seen this coming. If only he didn't have to answer…

"I don't know."

O0o0o0O

Puck scanned the woods below him. Henry and Jake were somewhere down there, searching for the thing he now held over his shoulder. He might as well go down and tell them they didn't have to search anymore.

There they were, walking through the crowded trees to the south. It looked like they'd already spotted him, too. Puck descended as quickly as he could, and touched down on the ground in front of them.

Their serious faces didn't really tell him much. Puck looked at them blankly as he set the girl on the ground.

"I found it," he said, a little obviously.

"We'd noticed," Henry muttered.

"You want to take it? I've carried it almost five miles now." That copy was _heavy_, too. It was like the girl, even though it was definitely missing something, had something else to compensate- but had gone a little too far. It was strange, and it unsettled Puck. He was used to carrying Grimm's weight, not this leaden figure that looked like her.

Jake nodded wordlessly and picked it up. He grunted under the weight a little, but he didn't say anything else. Neither did Henry.

Puck scowled to himself; this silence was annoying.

"Well, see ya back at camp," he said briskly, and took off.

The flight to the camp was quiet, with only a few birds breaking the silence. And even then, the silence was filled with other things; the silence of the trees, standing old and omniscient; the silence of a dreary late autumn twilight; and the biggest silence of all: the tense and confused silence of a four-thousand-year-old fairy as he thought long and hard.

What was he going to do about the copy? It wasn't Grimm, no matter how much it looked like her. It had something wrong.

He didn't even know what he should call it. Was it a "she" or an "it"? Did being a copy give it a different name, or did it just take the name of whoever it were copied from? He couldn't call it Grimm, even if that were the case.

Puck huffed out a sigh. This was confusing. He didn't want any more drama. All he needed was to go back to camp and prank somebody. That would help.

O0o0o0O

Veronica sat at her oldest daughter's side, head bowed in sleep. Henry almost didn't want to disturb her. But she would want to see this.

He put a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake. "Veronica."

Veronica's head shot up. "What?" she gasped.

Henry smiled a little, but Sabrina's sleeping form kept it from getting all the way. "We've found it," he explained quietly. "I think you'd want to see it."

Veronica nodded and got up to follow her husband, then stopped.

"Who's going to stay with Sabrina?" She asked worriedly.

Henry thought for a moment. "I'll get Daphne," he finally said. "I'll be back in a minute."

She nodded again, and Henry made to walk out.

He stopped. "Oh," he said. "Before you come to the interrogation—just… prepare yourself."

And then he left.

Prepare herself? For what? When Daphne finally got to the tent to take her spot by her sister, Veronica was just a little concerned. But she would be there for the interrogation no matter what, that was for certain.

Veronica walked beside Henry to the cabin, feeling a little wary about what she would find.

"Henry…," she said, barely audible, "Why did you say to prepare myself? What exactly did you find?"

They had arrived at the cabin. Henry opened the door, gesturing inside. "See for yourself," he answered grimly.

Veronica peered into the dim cabin, barely registering the five figures in the room: Relda, Jake, Charming, Snow, and… _Sabrina?_

"Sabrina-?" She gasped. She turned to Henry. "But… she was in the tent less than two minutes ago!"

Henry grasped her arm, steadying her. "Veronica, that's not Sabrina," he explained. "Sabrina's still in the medical tent, just where we left her. This is… a copy. It's not Sabrina."

Veronica was shocked. "A… copy? How could there be a _copy_?"

"It was my fault," Jake said, answering for Henry. "A sword I showed her tried to split her into parts, but it was partially stopped by a charm I gave her, and only copies were made. They aren't complete."

Veronica stayed quiet, staring at the limp form of the fake Sabrina. Henry rubbed her back soothingly.

Relda finally spoke. "Well, what's important right now is what she can tell us."

She gently shook the unconscious figure. "_Leibling,_ it's time to wake up now. We have some questions for you."

The girl opened her eyes, saw the people around her, and immediately shrank away.

"What do you want?" she asked, in a high, scared voice. She sounded so much like Sabrina; it was almost a perfect match. Only a few little things were off physically. But mentally… the others weren't so sure.

O0o0o0O

_**The room was cold, just like the forest had been. Why was it so cold?**_

_**Who were these people? Why were there so many of them? What did they want? She pressed her back against the wall, wondering why they hadn't killed her yet. **_

_**Wait, she knew who these people were. The memories, the Other Her—she had seen these people before. The old woman with grayish-red hair was Relda…. The tall, scruffy looking man was Jake… The Other Her's Parents; Henry and Veronica. And then… the beautiful woman was Snow White, and the other man was Prince Charming. What did they all want? **_

_**Relda held out something, and she flinched. But the bread caught her attention, and she grabbed it hungrily. She hadn't eaten in the entire three days she'd been alive. The bread was heaven, and she sighed happily. Or at least, less frightened-ly. She wasn't sure if she could ever be happy, with all these questions tormenting her. **_

_**Snow White approached her. "What's your name?" She saw the others in the room stiffen. **_

_**Who… who was she? She was a human, yes, and a girl, she was sure of that. But that was what she was, not who she was. So... who was she? **_

_**Thoughts came to mind, images of the Other Her. Was that who she was? **_

_**No… That wasn't her. She wasn't like that. She didn't know exactly who she was, but she knew who she wasn't. **_

"_**I don't know," she finally answered. **_

_**Relda looked intrigued, as did the rest of them. "How old are you, leibling?" **_

"_**I don't know." **_

"_**Why not?" Charming looked skeptical. **_

_**She shuddered. This man… she remembered him, remembered how he had killed someone, right in front of the Other Her. Would he kill her, too, if she didn't answer his questions? But, she didn't know anything! She started breathing fast, and the questions surged in her mind. **_

"_**It's… so… so many questions. So many memories. None of them connect. I don't know what's mine, I don't know what's Hers, I don't even know if it's true. And the questions. The questions never stop. If one gets answered, a hundred takes its place. The fear, it never leaves me alone." **_

_**Relda looked at her with pity. "Oh, leibling… Can you try to figure it out? Tell us how you got here?" **_

_**She looked at the old woman, the woman whose face showed up at the end of the Other Hers memories. That old woman had always wanted what was best for the Other Her. Did that mean she wanted what was best for her? **_

_**Something in the depths of her shivering, frightened heart told her yes. That tiny shimmer of hope at the bottom of her soul trusted the old woman. **_

_**She nodded. "I'll try." **_

_**She closed her eyes, sifting through the images, the sounds, for that one moment when everything became drenched in fear. **_

_**It came to her, and her eyes shot open. She breathed in ragged gasps as she relived the memory. **_

"_**It was dark," she said. Her eyes, though still open, were blank, as her mind traveled far into that first moment of her life. "It was so dark. All I felt was cold, a biting cold. The darkness was moving but I can't make out the shapes. There are other beings there, voices. One of them is angry, one is peaceful. I can't make out the others. **_

" _**There was a crack, in the darkness. It got wider and wider, and it pulled me, it pulled me and the others out. I can hear a heartbeat. I see colors, colors I haven't seen since that day. **_

"_**Something about the others that were pulled from the void scared me. They felt… wrong. So I left, as fast as I could, and landed by a river. I didn't know how I knew what it was. I just did. So I went along the bank, looking for something that didn't terrify me. That's when I heard people walking nearby. I was scared, and I ran. That's when I was attacked by the pixies."**_

_**She looked around the room timidly, wondering where the pixies were right now. She didn't see any in the cabin; they must have been somewhere else. She sighed in relief, but the questions quickly took their place in her mind.**_

**AN: Oh gosh, I'm putting an AN at the bottom. But I said I wouldn't do that anymore! You know what? I don't care anymore. I'll put the AN wherever I feel like it. **

**Peter: Hey, Epiphany, have you forgot about us already? **

**Me: PSH.. no. I mean… psh. I wouldn't do that. **

**Peter: *gasp* You DID forget us! **

**Me: Yeah…. Sorry 'bout that, guys. I'll put you in somewhere! **

**Tinkerbell: As long as I don't have to give any more 'words of wisdom' to Puck. That boy stinks to high heaven. **

**Me: I don't think you'll have to. He's too busy being emotionally confused. **

**Daphne: You've forgotten me, too, ya know!**

**Me: But—Daphne, you're in this chapter! **

**Daphne: For like, two seconds! That's not long enough! **

**Me: Fine! I'll get ALL of you guys in the next few chapters or so, alright? **

**Everybody: Sounds good to us. *leave***

**Me: Really? What's next, Sabrina waking up early? **

**Sabrina: That would be kind of nice, actually. It's really boring in there with only the sword for company. **

**Me: *headdesk* Sabrina… I can't have you wake up early! That's what's making the drama all the more interesting! I can't believe I have to explain this to the main character! You being in a coma makes Puck's emotional confusion all the more interesting!**

**Puck: *sarcastically, from somewhere far off* WELL I'M GLAD I COULD CONTRIBUTE! **

**Me: You know I appreciate it, Puck! Keep the roiling hormones and brimming concern comin'! **

**Puck: *walks in* Why don't YOU try sorting through all this crap instead? Be a lot more entertaining, in my opinion. **

**Me: *laughs hysterically* Way to be ironic, Puck-o. **

**Puck: Huh?... Confused. **

**Me and Sabrina: It's a girl thing. You wouldn't get it. At all. **

**Puck: *shrugs* Whatever. *leaves***

**Sabrina: Welp, I've got some other fanfics to film, so, see ya. *leaves***

**Me: Finally alone. Now I have to write the next chapter…. Dangit. And I have school tomorrow. *turns to audience* SO YOU PEOPLE BETTER REVIEW, OR I WILL VIRTUALLY… I dunno. **


	18. Tension Just LOVES This Story Doesn't It

**EDIT OF THE EDIT:** **_I HAVE REACHED A HUNDRED REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU PEOPLE! I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOOO MUCH! :D _But still, ignore the whining about reviews I did in the original AN. **

EDIT: Don't worry about the review count whining I did down there. I was being stupid and selfish, and I apologize. Please don't hate me for it. **  
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**AN: I'm sorry. Don't hate me, okay? I was just a little upset last chapter. But now all you people have cheered me up. Thank you. **

**But don't think that'll get you off the hook about reviewing. I'm still watching you guys. **

**I'd kinda like this story to surpass 100 reviews. I'm not trying to sound like I'm selfish or anything, but it's kind of disappointing that this story is nearly double NALIHS, and yet it has less reviews by at least thirty. So to achieve this goal, I'm installing a Quote of the Update: **

Where is the most exotic place you've ever been? If you live in an exotic place already, where is it that you most want to go?

**On a different note, I'm getting kind of depressed. Not about anything FF related, but depressed nonetheless. If you wanna find out, look on my deviantart journals (the link is on my profile). **

**Microsoft Word is doing this stupid thing where when I try to go back and type, the new words/letters replace the old ones, and then I have to retype the whole sentence/paragraph. **

**Answers to anons: **

**Alzoie: Well, it's not really in anybody's particular POV, so it doesn't make a difference. This whole story's in Third Person Omniscient POV, so I try to tell you in the first sentence who I'm focusing on in that section. Am I confusing you? I'm glad you like it :)**

**In The Red: Thanks :D I'm glad you like it. Sorry about that. **

**Velika Silvertoungue (?): Thanks :) Don't worry, I won't 'dunno' you. I don't even know how I could do that… Sabrina 1 is the embodiment of Sabrina's fear, of course it's OOC. It's not meant to be in character for Sabrina. Sadly, I have no virtual copies of the amulet that I could give away. Sorry. **

**PenguinLoverGurl: Nope. I just messed up. It's fixed now. **

**Demigod536: Ditto. **

**Okay. On to the appearances I've promised everybody. **

Daphne looked down at her sister sadly. It'd been a week, an entire week, since she'd spoken to Sabrina, and their last words had not been friendly and kind like Daphne wished they had.

But it was too late to go back on what she'd said. It was quite possible that she'd never even talk to Sabrina again.

No. She couldn't think like that. Uncle Jake and Charming and Granny Relda and her parents were going to figure it out. Sabrina was going to wake up, and she would be fine.

Daphne's stomach grumbled. She ignored it.

Nurse Sprat had been worried about how they would get food to Sabrina while she was in the coma. If she didn't get enough fluids and sugars in her system, she could die before they had found a way to wake her up. There wasn't an IV anywhere in the camp. The only way to get the food into Sabrina's system was to feed her manually, tiny bit by tiny bit, but they weren't even sure if she needed it.

Sprat figured that her digestive system, like her breathing and heartbeat, had been dramatically slowed down. Sabrina's functions were at their slowest, all except her eyes. They flickered side to side under her lids, as if she were experiencing a dream.

They had no idea what was going on inside her head. She might be completely brain dead, or she might still be conscious, trying with all her might to move. Daphne was sure Sabrina was still there, aware of everything in her surroundings. So she talked to her sister, telling her about the day's weather, how everyone was doing, all the words she had come up with since the last visit. Daphne spent hours at a time, chatting one-sidedly with her sister.

Sometimes, the hectic camp life made it impossible to visit Sabrina when she wanted to. Either she was needed in training recruits with the magic carpet, helping out in the mess hall, or testing the new magical items, there were times that Daphne just couldn't get away. That's when she sent Peter.

Peter had a way of sitting quietly, patiently beside Sabrina that Daphne felt as if Peter could sense something she couldn't. As if Sabrina were trying to say something that she could never quite make out, but he understood.

Tinkerbell didn't spend as much time with Sabrina as the rest, but Dapne didn't think it was because she disliked her. Tinkerbell was just generally aloof, except for Peter. But, even then, she still seemed to be off on her own. She often sat with her eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to her surroundings. But then she would answer someone unexpectedly and they would figure out that to their chagrin, she had heard every word they said.

Puck was acting more surly and depressed than anyone else in the camp. He would sit around and tear up leaves and putting them in untidy little piles, which he would then set on fire. Several people had gotten upset when they suddenly discovered the flames had leapt to their clothes. Puck had laughed half-heartedly a bit, but he gave up on that and just went back to tearing up leaves.

One day Daphne had had enough.

"All right, you big galumphus she said, pulling incessantly on Puck's arm. "You're too depressed. Get off your humongous, melancholy _behind_ and _do something!_"

Puck stayed seated.

"Come on," she urged. "Get up. Please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't feel like it," he muttered.

Daphne looked outraged. "You don't _feel like it?"_

Puck grunted.

"Is that what Sabrina would want you to do?" she asked coldly. "When she's alone in the medical tent, _in a coma,_ you're sitting out here setting leaves on fire! _Do something! _You can go anywhere you want, you can go and find a way to save her, and yet you're sitting there! Do you know how much I'd give to be able to do that, to do anything?"

Puck narrowed his eyes. "You think I don't want to save her? You think I don't want to see her alive and well again just as much as you do? I would give anything to have her back." He stood quiet for a while, and then stalked off.

Daphne just stood with a surprised look on her face. Was it just her, or had Puck practically confessed about what she thought he'd confessed about?

O0o0o0O

Peter stared at Sabrina's tense face. Her expression hadn't changed at all since the glimmering forms had appeared a week ago. Her lids closed over her flickering eyes, the only part of her that seemed to move at all, other than the tiny rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. More than once, Peter wondered if she was dreaming. And if she was dreaming, what was she dreaming about?

He thought he might know what, but what did he know about dreams? Dreams were a jumble of everything real and imaginary, and who was he to say he knew was in her heart?

Although, now that the Grimms had found out that those shimmers were parts of her, did she even have a heart?

O0o0o0O

Tinkerbell stepped quietly underneath the oak tree in the center of the camp, looking up at the dusky sky. The stars glittered, and a breeze ruffled her black hair.

Footsteps crunched behind her, but she didn't bother to turn around.

"Hello, Puck."

Puck grunted. "How did you know it was me?"

"Simple," she replied, still not turning to look at him. "You're the only one in camp who walks like they're depressed."

She could feel him frowning at her back.

"I'm not depressed," he muttered. She turned around so she could see him scowl.

"Whether you're depressed or not doesn't really concern me. Why did you seek me out?"

He scowled some more, but didn't say anything.

She frowned. "I've already helped you before, Puck. Do you need me to repeat what I said?"

He blushed slightly, remembering what she had told him last time they had talked. "No," he said, stuffing his hands into his grubby sweatshirt pockets.

"Then why are you here?" Her voice was impatient, she'd let it slip. Oh well, the boy wouldn't notice. He wasn't keen on sensitivity, that one.

Puck scuffed at the ground with his sneakers.

"If you don't want me to help you, that's fine. Just stop twiddling around and make up your mind," she said, turning away from him.

She could see him scowl again out of the corner of her eye. "Fine. Whatever."

He left.

Tinkerbell closed her eyes again, breathing in the cold air. She stood there for a moment, enjoying the way the air felt crisp, even at dusk. And then she walked off, knowing with certainty that it was going to snow.

O0o0o0O

Big, soft snowflakes fell on the camp that night, covering everything in a thick white blanket. Several on the early morning watch had to dig themselves out of the snow banks before they were buried completely. Long, thick, deadly-seeming icicles hung from the cabin roofs, looking ready to fall and puncture any passerby. The giant oak tree in the center of the camp held vast piles of snow, ready to fall and bury anyone at the slightest tremor. So typically, people stayed away from tall things that day.

Charming was sitting in his cabin, drinking the slightly bitter cocoa that the mess hall was giving out. And while he sipped from the hot tin mug, burning his tongue on the more-than-hot metal, the leader of Camp Charming was brooding.

Mulling over the events of the past week, none of it seemed good in any way. There was the leak in the west water tower, and the wooden gate would have to be renovated before it rotted. And then there was the whole business with the Grimm girl, too. Why was it that the most stubborn, hot-headed one of the whole lot was the one that got copied? Why couldn't it have been one of the ones with common sense? Veronica, maybe? He doubted that any Veronica-copies would make as much trouble as the Sabrina one had.

He was just about to take another sip of cocoa when he heard it.

_Scritch. Scritch. Scritch. _

Charming froze, the cup halfway to his mouth, and listened hard.

He could just faintly hear it, a faint scratching near the right hand wall of his cabin.

What was going on? He stood quickly, trying not to make any sound. Setting the mug on his makeshift desk, he moved stealthily to the door.

It swung open slowly, inch by inch. The scratching kept on.

Charming peeked past the corner of the cabin. A figure was standing at the wall, using a sharp rock to scratch _THE QUEEN OF SNEAKS WAS H_ into the wood planks of the wall. A blonde figure. A very familiar blonde figure.

And then it hit him. This was another of the copies, wasn't it? A scowl crossed his face. Of course it was.

And he would have to retrieve it and tell Relda about it. That was _brilliant._ Of course.

O0o0o0O

Puck was sitting with his back to the rest of the house, thinking over what Tinkerbell had said.

Had he really wanted her help? He had been able to convince himself, while he was standing outside, that he had just wanted some fresh air. But now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure what he had wanted.

Tinkerbell had been able to help him before. She had pushed him to patch things with Grimm. Things had been going better between them; right up until this whole thing had started.

Now she was gone, and there was a feeling in Puck's stomach that he hadn't felt before, like a giant knot of freezing iron was settling inside him. The last time he had felt anything like that was when Grimm had fallen backward off the water tower, and all he could see, for a split second, was the look of surprise on her face…

Puck shook his head, trying to dislodge the memory. Now wasn't the time for that. He searched for something else to take his attention, and his memory caught on something Tinkerbell had said.

She had called him depressed.

He was _not_ depressed. He was perfectly fine, attitude-wise.

The iron ball in his stomach got a bit heavier.

**AN: Hey guys. I think I might reinstate the AN-at-the-bottom-of-the-chapter thing. What do you think? Does it disrupt the flow between chapters? Or do you guys just skip anything I put down here, just like you seem to skip whatever I put at the top? **


	19. Jake Fixes A Humongous Plothole

**AN: Cries with joy—You guys are amazing :D I love you all. Never mind any of the selfish whining and evil spitting I have done before, okay? It was quite mean of me, when I have so many friends here. I'm sorry if I pushed you away! And sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. **

**The winner of the QotD/QotU: **

My answer to the QotD: Well, I've been to Utah, Canada, and Australia. I think Australia would be the most exotic of those, right? It had a lot of cool stuff—I saw a guy playing the didgeridoo, jumped over a humongous mound of lethal ants, saw a cow museum, went through the Sydney Opera House, and snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef.

***Book hits back of head * Ow! Okay, okay, I get it! So my sister has been getting on me for a little while. She says that she's been getting me some reviewers, and that I have to pay her back. So if any of you guys have some free time, go and check out my sister's story. She might have changed her pen name again, but the last time I checked it was 'lllllllllllllbarcode' or something like that. It might be 'lazyusername'. IDK. Check it out, and say I sent you. :) **

**Oh, yeah… I have good news! :D Of course, if you watch me on dA, you already know this, but remember that giant picture I mentioned a while back? I've finally started it. It's nowhere near done yet, but it'll get there. Maybe I can work on it over the weekend or something.**

**Just answering some anons. Skip ahead of this if you want. **

(): **Uh, wow, that's a lot of reviews. :) Thanks! You made my day. **

PenguinLoverGurl**: Clever. :) Thank you~ That's really cool. I've always wanted to go to Europe. Wow, you're like, the ninth Filipino I've met in my life. Well, talked to online, anyway… Whoa, that's a big house. I think that's normal. **

Velika Silvertounge**: Thanks. :) **

Anon**: I think you were the hundredth. (That makes me so happy!) Haha, I liked that part too. Cool. I couldn't live in the Philippines; I hate the heat. But that still sounds really cool. Going to Mars would be cool, but if you made an asteroid, who would destroy it before it collided with the Earth? **

Noaccount**: Getting an account is pretty easy, you know. Thank you. :D **

Kathie** (both your reviews): Yup. Lol. Don't worry, the depression left on its own. Yeah, I'm trying to take your advice about that. :) I've been to Florida. It's too hot for me. :P Thank you. Well yeah, I think Sabrina's been unconscious before (book three), but never for more than three days. And I think Puck's nerves would have been a little jumpy so soon after the water-tower incident. Um… Let me check… I think it's five. Yeah. Thanks again. :) **

**I still feel bad about all the whining I've done. Sorry. **

**Oh, and be sure to check my profile to vote on the next QotD :D **

**Okay, now I have to stop saying sorry before I turn into Tohru Honda and can no longer give you guys a good story. (Whoa, this AN is over 500 words long. That's the size of my latest essay.) **

"What d'you mean, you 'should have thought of it before'?" Veronica looked at Jake curiously. "You mean you've found a way to get her back?"

Jake hurried past her, over to Sabrina's cot. "Yeah," he answered excitedly. "And if I'm right…" He trailed off, looking down at his niece.

"What are you going to do?" Henry asked, looking a little worried. Jake didn't really blame him.

Jake was breathing fast; he'd run here all the way from the mess hall. "I'm going to take out the catalyst," he explained. "The amulet was the thing that set the process in flux, so if I take it out," – he reached down and grasped the necklace—"It should end."

He pulled. A bright light engulfed the room, and for a split second, nobody could see anything.

O0o0o0O

Sabrina looked around her. What was going on? She'd been asking the sword more questions, but right in the middle of answering it stopped. She hadn't been able to move, either. She had been completely frozen, for a split second, and then there was a huge ripping sound, like a seam being torn apart, and the wall of strange colors disappeared, pure whit taking it's place.

A whooshing sound filled her ears, and the temporary whiteness evaporated. Sabrina found her eyes suddenly closed. She opened them. Everything was blurry and out of focus.

"Sabrina?" Veronica's voice—her _mom's voice_—sounded in her ears. Sabrina immediately tried to sit up. A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"How're you feeling, 'Brina?" Uncle Jake looked down at her. His hair was extremely unkempt and ruffled, and his ever-present trench coat was wrinkled.

Sabrina looked around, letting it sink in that she was finally _out of that sword_. Her mom was standing less than two feet away from her. She wanted to reach out and grab her into a fierce hug. She would have, too, if it weren't for the immense ache in her body. Every part of her seemed leaden; her limbs were stiff. She tried wiggling her fingers. They moved, at least.

Veronica and Henry had stood there for a moment, too shocked or happy or incredulous to do anything, but it soon faded. Veronica swooped to her eldest daughter and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"We thought…. We thought that-," Veronica broke off, hugging Sabrina even tighter.

Sabrina stayed quiet, just being happy that she could hug her mom.

Henry finally moved, stepping closer and adding himself to the hug.

Uncle Jake just looked relieved. He smiled a bit. "I'll go tell everyone the good news."

O0o0o0O

"Stop struggling, child!" Charming said exasperatedly. He pulled at the squirming girl.

She snapped at him. "I am not a child!"

He looked down at her. "You aren't even legal voting age, so yes, you are a child," he said, dragging at her arm.

She glared at him.

Charming pulled her arm again, struggling to drag her across the snow. She didn't take to the idea very well, and they spent the next five minutes practically tussling over which way she would go. Finally Charming had had enough; he swept the girl off the ground and over his shoulder. She shrieked in rage, kicking and scratching at him ferociously.

"Let—me—_go!_" she cried angrily. She swore at him. Charming wondered where Sabrina had ever learned such foul language.

They were almost to Relda's cabin when Charming heard the shouting. He stiffened, craning his head a bit to the side to hear better. What was that? It sounded like Jake. What was he yelling? Something about Sabrina?

Well, he already had one of them. He trudged a little closer to Jake's voice, hoping to catch at least part of it.

Jake's shouting was clearer now. "-Awake! Sabrina's awake! She's out of her coma—she's awake!"

Charming, almost despite himself, felt relieved. But then the figure slung over his shoulder started shrieking again, and his mood darkened.

O0o0o0O

**She knew who everyone was. Her memories, spotty though they were, gave her enough information. The jerky man carrying her so gruffly through the camp was none other than bigheaded Charming, and the man shouting about Sabrina—about **_**her**_**—was her Uncle Jake. **

**She wasn't some **_**copy. **_**She was the real thing. How could her uncle be talking about someone that wasn't really her? **_**She **_**was Sabrina, and she was perfectly awake. But he didn't even see her. He turned before he could see that she was here, slung over Charming's shoulder.**

**She felt the anger broiling in her stomach, swirling with an intense heat like magma beneath a volcano. She didn't like Charming. She didn't like him at all. His stupid jerky attitude, his hateful attempts to control her. She hated that. He wasn't her dad, he couldn't control what she did. **

**She felt a little hurt, too, at her uncle's words, but it was quickly overpowered by the anger. **

**Charming carried her brusquely through the camp and into the medical tent. **

"**Since everyone was in here, I thought I'd might as well just drop this off here," Charming said as soon as he walked in. He set her (a little roughly) on the floor. She scowled at him. **

**Her eyes swept through the room, taking in all the people crowded around the cot. There was Granny Relda, and her parents, Daphne, stuck-up Tinkerbell, and, laying in the cot, white-faced, was her. It was her, Sabrina. **

**She felt the anger rise dangerously in her chest. THAT WASN'T HER, she wanted to yell. THAT WAS NOT HER, AND IT NEVER WOULD BE. She was right here, standing in front of her. **

**The Sabrina on the cot spoke quietly. "So the sword was right… I really did get copied." **

O0o0o0O

Sabrina looked calmly at the exact copy of herself standing in front of her. It felt strange, like looking in a mirror, except… not quite right. Of course, it was like a mirror image flipped left-to-right, but still…

The copy was standing there, eyes narrowed in anger. Sabrina wondered what she was thinking. What kind of thoughts did a nearly identical Sabrina have?

Well, it was obviously something angry, that much was clear.

Sabrina felt her stomach rumble. This would have to wait. She needed food.

She pushed the blanket off and stood up. Her knees buckled slightly, but she straightened. Sabrina looked at Veronica. "Mom, I'm going to the mess hall. I'll be back in a bit."

Veronica nodded. "I'll come with you."

Later, as she ate her heaping portion of chicken and potato soup and surrounded by relieved and smiling people congratulating her on her waking up. She thought it was a little stupid that they were making such a big fuss over the fact that she opened her eyes, but she could tell from the way her mom's face softened every time she'd looked at her that it was a big deal. So she let the people shake her hand, touch her shoulders. More and more of them streamed into the mess hall, attracted by Jake's happy shouts.

Sabrina wondered what was going through her copy's mind. What would an almost-her think about?

And, possibly more importantly, what was the one thing that made that Sabrina an imperfect copy?

O0o0o0O

Puck walked slowly through his room when he heard Jake's shouts. He ignored the animals' various noises, focusing instead on the happy voices he heard echoing from outside.

He couldn't quite make it out. Puck raised his arm in a silencing gesture, and the animals immediately quieted.

And then he heard it. "—Awake! The spell's been broken, Sabrina's awake!"

Puck froze. Sabrina was awake?

His mouth went dry, and he swallowed shakily as an enormous wave of relief washed over him. She was awake.

A tense second passed. Puck thought for a second, if it could be called that. It was more like a split second decision. As soon as it was made, he was off like a shot.

O0o0o0O

The room was dark. Everyone had left Sabrina, saying that she needed the rest. She found that kind of ironic, as she'd just been in a _coma._

But they'd only smiled a bit when she'd told them that, and the left her to herself for the night. Veronica had told her that she'd have Daphne in her room for the night, and that her little sister would join her after she 'recovered'.

Was everyone going to treat her like a baby now? _Geez,_ she thought. _I get put into one magic induced coma, and people think I can't take care of myself_.

It was kind of annoying.

The wind whispered, rustling the curtains. The lights of torches being carried across the courtyard float through her window and onto her face, making it almost impossible for her to get any sleep.

Then the window _opened_, and she was _really_ awake.

She shot up, eyes wide, locking onto the dark figure in the window frame. "Who's there?" Her voice trembled the tiniest bit.

Silence.

The figure shifted slowly. Something fluttered in her chest, and Sabrina hoped that whoever it was couldn't tell she was more than just a little bit frightened.

More silence.

Sabrina wondered briefly whether, if this stranger stayed, would she be more scared, or would the fear lessen? _I guess I'll find out… _

A few tense moments passed, and the fear didn't lessen much, but it was enough that Sabrina could successfully put up a front. "Well, who or _what_ever you are, if you're not going to talk to me, I'll just go back to sleep."

She sent a glare over the figure, but she wasn't sure if he saw it. Sabrina was sure it was a he; the figure was the size of teenager, and if the person were a girl Sabrina was pretty sure she would have some evidence. The hair, too, was short. The only girls in the camp with short hair were different sizes from the intruder, either shorter or taller. And speaking of height, most of the males in the camp were taller, too. So it had to be a boy, around early adolescence, who was sitting in her window, frightening the daylights out of her while she slept.

A shot of anger rose in her cheeks, and she sent a real glare to the figure.

The boy grinned. Sabrina scowled.

Wait, a grin? Only one person would grin if she scowled at him. "Peter?"

The boy stiffened. It wasn't Peter?

O0o0o0O

Puck sat frozen where he was, looking in mild astonishment at Sabrina. No thoughts ran through his mind; it was just a pool of blank shock.

A tense minute passed. His face darkened. He let go of the window sill and pushed off the house, fast. He careened out across the yard and into the forest, slamming into a tree and breaking of a branch. Pain lanced through his lower back, right beneath his wings. He ignored it and pulled himself onto the branch he hadn't broken.

He sat for a while, stewing things over.

She'd thought he was Pan? No—she'd hoped he was Pan. She wouldn't want to see him. Of course not.

He sighed.

He'd been hoping… well, he wasn't really sure _what_ he'd been hoping. Whatever it was, though, he knew that what he'd just seen wasn't it.

Memories ran through his mind. The first time he'd seen Grimm. Arguing with her over who was in charge. Flying her away from bloodthirsty rabbits. Facing the Jabberwocky for her. Seeing her face when she realized he'd handcuffed they'd been handcuffed together. Waking up, seeing her lying on the ground, twisted in pain. Talking with her after his dad's funeral. Watching her fall, almost in slow motion, from a hot air balloon, and feeling a knife of cold fear slice through his stomach. The relief he felt when he'd caught her.

And…. after all that…. After all that he'd done for her, she didn't see it.

Well, he couldn't really saw he'd seen it either. It was only after Tinkerbell had scolded him, and after weeks of fear roiling in his stomach did he really realize what it was.

And it hurt, knowing that Grimm had no idea about it.

Well, whatever. It didn't matter. If it wasn't there, it wasn't there. No use sitting in this tree and feeling sorry for himself. He'd just have to hide it, store it away for a little while, until she'd finally see.

**AN: That wasn't OOC, was it? Well, not overly OOC, anyway? **

**Puck: That was completely OOC! You had me in a tree whining about how much I liked her! What the—That was TERRIBLE directing! I quit!**

**Me: NO! You can't quit—we have twenty chapters left, at least! Don't leave!**

**Puck: Who cares. I'm outta here. * makes for the door * **

**Sabrina: * hands on hips * You aren't going to LEAVE me, are you? I just got out of a COMA. You can't leave. **

**Puck: *sticks out tongue* Make me. **

**Sabrina: Okay. *grabs his ear and drags him out the door***

**Puck: OW OW OW OW OW OW OW **

**Me: Okay, guys, sorry that it took so long for the update. I'm moving this week, so I won;t be able to update on Friday like I want to, but I'm still gonna try. :) This QotU is... *drumroll***

****If you were MB, what would you put in the ninth book? Any specific characters, stories, pairings? *waggles eyebrows* The most creative one wins. :) And you are only eligible for the prize (which is a drawing on dA) if you comment on the story as well as answering the QotU.

**Thank you for reading thus far! Review and tell me what you thought! :D**


	20. Puck Loses His Angst? I doubt it

**AN: I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SO SORRY I'M A GIGANTIC JERKFACE BECAUSE I WAS SO SAD AND ANGSTY ABOUT REVIEWS AND CRAP AND THEN I DIDN'T EVEN WRITE ANYTHING I AM SO SORRY- *sister slams hand over mouth* MMMF-PHMBRMMF, IMFOFERMFRMM! **

***Pushes sister off* Alright already! I've calmed down now. A bit. Now before I start shouting again, how about I go on a slight rant about something I enjoy to take my mind of my own selfishness. Alright? **

**Okay. Erm…. Something happy… okay—I just saw a show that I liked so much, I spent the whole day watching it, from episode 2 to 26 (which is the last). It's pretty good, and it has a cool concept, if a little complex. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you which show, hehe… It's called Tears to Tiara, and now I can't get the song out of my head. It's a little bloody gory, but other than violence, there are no suggestive themes at all. The only thing I really dislike about it (other than the blood) is that almost all the girls have big boobs. It was kind of annoying and made me a little self conscious, being small-chested myself. But that's a small thing. **

**Well, I've completely forgotten what my last QotU was, and I can't remember if anyone answered anyway. So here's the next one: **If you had the power to restart the Earth and make a new beginning, but the only way to do that was to destroy everything on it, would you do it? What if the Earth were in a terrible condition, yet there was still some good to it somewhere? Would you forfeit the lives of countless innocent to make a paradise, or would you help those people rebuild the world with their own hands? **Whichever one you choose, the best argument gets a prize: either sneak peeks for the story or a drawing; winner's choice. :) **

**Now that I have dropped that moral vase on you, let me apologize for not answering any anons. I have excuses, but they're kind of lame, and anyway let's get to the story. I'll try to make it extra long. **

**O0o0o0O**

Puck's mind was a mess. Inner conflictions were messing with his outer control and appearance. If he wasn't careful, his carefully planned nonchalant manner would slip—and that was bad. If he didn't have his façade of villainy (and if not villainy, then at least of majorly annoying stuff), then he was stuck up a reputation creek without an evidence paddle to back him up. The worst thing he could do right now was slip up.

"You're slipping."

He looked up. Tinkerbell gave him an emotionless stare. It kind of ticked him off. "It's obvious that something's upset you," she said in that annoyingly snooty yet distanced way she had. That ticked him off too. "Why don't you stop walking into situations that make you act like a fool?"

Puck growled. "I don't have time for this crap," he snarled. He turned to stalk off.

She caught his shoulder, unwilling to let him go. "Then why do you keep doing it?" she asked pointedly. "You keep putting yourself in the same position emotionally, and then you expect something different to come out of it." She glared at him. "Do you know what the definition of madness is?"

Puck glared back, not bothering to hide his annoyance (although he rarely ever hid that).

She ignored his glare and continued. "It means doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results," she snapped. "So I suggest you stop this madness and start figuring out ways to deal with things that don't rip you apart!"

Tinkerbell was looking amazingly worked up, for a person of her general calmness. Puck looked at her for a minute, studying her, but not really registering anything.

"Well then," he said slowly, trying his hardest not to shout, "What do you suggest?"

She didn't look as tense now. She sighed. "I have one thing," she replied, "But you won't like it."

"What is it?" he asked, suspicious.

"Go talk to Peter."

His jaw dropped in rage. "I'm not going to talk to that tights-wearing, glory-stealing—"

"I didn't say you had to like him," she interrupted, "Or even agree with him. Just talk to him."

He frowned stubbornly. "Why should I?"

Tinkerbell rubbed her temples. "Peter has a way of sorting everything out, alright? I'm sure that if you just talked to him, you could at least get out part of your frustration or _something_."

Puck frowned some more. He didn't want to go talk to Peter. He didn't want to be anywhere near that guy. Just the thought of standing with him and _talking_ was deterring. How would talking to him help anything? Right now, Puck was sure that _punching_ him would be more effective. In fact, he felt it would help fix his problem quite nicely.

Tinkerbell's scowl got even deeper. "If you don't go I will rip your fingers off your hands and stuff them down your throa—"

"Alright I'm going!"

O0o0o0O

The gray-brown walls of Sabrina's room were becoming blander by the minute. Ordered to bed rest (despite her loud insistence that she was _fine_), she was stuck in her room for the next three days.

So she had read almost all her books (boring), written four more pages in her journal (tedious), and finally started playing imaginary connect-the-cracks on her wall (grasping at straws). She was halfway creating a tiger when she looked at the clock and groaned. It had only been five hours. She still had sixty-seven left to go! Well, yeah, she'd spend about half that time sleeping, but still! That was a long time to have to entertain herself. Seriously!

She raised herself into a sitting position just so she could plop backwards dramatically. Unfortunately, no one was there to witness her absolute frustration at her absolute boredom. It was so complete, so pressing, so life-threatening—that if she didn't find something to do, _now,_ she was going to die.

She sighed. Dramatic gestures were useless when she was all alone.

What could she do…?

Read some more? No.

Write in her—no.

Doodle? …Maybe….

She leaned over the edge of her bed, sliding along on her belly 'til her head touched the floor, ruffling under her bed for a notebook and Daphne's box of colored pencils. She pulled back up right as the blood was beginning to rush.

The paper was a little rumpled, and a lot of the colored pencils' tips were worn down from Daphne's frequent use, but that didn't amount to much against the pressing weight of the insufferable boredom.

So Sabrina drew. She wasn't that good (in fact she was kind of terrible), and a lot of the colors were off, but after a while, she realized she kind of liked it. Not the drawing part, really—she knew she wasn't an artist or anything—but the fact that she was _creating_ something helped alleviate the boredom. No matter that the stuff she created was hideous. Maybe she would get better in time?

Sabrina grinned to herself. "Nah."

O0o0o0O

The snow had fallen days ago, and it was starting to melt. What had previously been pristine and white was now replaced with clumps of gray-brown slush as the dirt stuck to the melting snow. An icicle cracked off the edge of the mess hall's roof and smacked Puck in the forehead with a _thwack. _Daphne, standing behind him, giggled.

He scowled and stalked off.

There was no way he would talk to Pan. He just hated the guy too much. All that—that—happy, sickening, non-anything-gross-or-cool stuff was just repugnant. He didn't even fly on his own power! He used pixie dust or whatever! How Pan could even think he was _qualified _to be cool was beyond him.

Not to mention that he had Grimm practically all to himself.

Wait—was he really thinking that? Was he really so self-absorbed and stubborn that he held that against Pan, even though he knew it wasn't really his fault? _Well, yeah!, _he wanted to say to himself. _So I'm selfish. What's wrong with that? It's how I've always been, and it's always worked out fine before. _

Then… what was different now? Why did he feel so guilty when he thought about it?

He already knew the answer, and he hated it. _Stupid Grimm, _he thought,_ she's always getting me to do stuff I don't want to. Now it's starting to affect how I think. _

He flew up to a tree branch and settled against the cold bark. The icy breeze didn't bother him, but the idea that he was no longer in control of his own thoughts did.

How could he regain control of himself? More importantly, how could he get rid of this annoying conscience thingamabob? It was starting to mess up some serious pranks he had had in mind.

He sighed, thinking.

Maybe talking to Pan wouldn't be that bad. Maybe it actually would help him figure out what the crap was going on inside his brain. Maybe, after a soul-searching talk with his sworn enemy, the entire situation would correct itself in his mind.

Yeah, right. Maybe monkeys would shoot out of his butt. But it was still better than doing nothing.

Grudgingly, he made arrangements in his mind to prepare himself for what would probably require all the self-control he could muster.

He was just about to get up and go find the Pantless Wonder right then, but a flash of blond hair passed through his peripheral vision.

Well… on second thought, maybe he would save that talk for later.

O0o0o0O

Following Grimm through the camp was easy; she didn't even notice that he was trailing her. Puck watched her pass through the maze of cabins and tents, treading carefully and watching in case anyone saw her. Finally, she stopped beside the cabin nearest the fort's walls, unused because a part of the roof had caved in.

She looked around, checking that no one was near, and then she pushed the sturdy wood door open a crack, slid in, and closed the door. He heard the thump of the bolt being slid into place.

Puck smiled to himself. Then he landed lightly on the roof of the cabin and peered in through the gaping hole. Grimm was sitting down in the corner of the cabin, next to a small metal pan that was used as a firepit. She had thrown some wood into it, and was lighting a match as Puck swung down through the hole. She looked up just as his feet touched the dirt floor.

He didn't notice that her hair was wrong (too yellow), or that her mouth was wrong (it was smiling). He definitely didn't notice that she was wearing completely different clothes from the pajamas he had last seen her in, and he absolutely didn't notice that Sabrina was supposed to be in bed, and that she was too weak to run about and do anything. He was too busy being arrogant and smug to notice anything important like _that._

"So," he said lazily, "I see that bed rest just wasn't fitting on your agenda."

She blinked.

Puck ignored her and went on. "I mean, I know you hated taking orders, but this—," –he gestured in her general direction— "—This is new. I didn't think you had the guts. In fact—," He drifted off as something clicked in his brain.

Oh. He'd forgotten.

That would explain her odd appearance; why she had been running and making sure no one could see her. But…

…It didn't quite explain why she was smiling.

She got up to her feet, still smiling at him. It was beginning to kind of freak him out—so much that he didn't notice how close she had gotten until she hugged him; a great, earnest embrace that nearly toppled him.

"I'm so glad it was you who found me," she said into his shoulder. Her voice was slightly higher than the original Sabrina's; lighter, gentler. "I know I've only been alive for a few weeks, but I feel like I've known you forever." She squeezed his chest tighter.

Puck didn't say anything. He just stared, confused, at the girl hugging him.

"I remember it, you know," she said quietly. He blinked in bewilderment, wondering vaguely where this conversation was headed. "I don't have all of my memories," she continued. "But of what I have, I remember the kiss the best."

He didn't like where this conversation was headed.

Puck felt the blush creeping up his neck. He hadn't said anything of the kiss since it had happened almost a year ago, and he preferred to keep it that way. It had been a slip of his sanity, nothing more.

"Wh—why are you bringing that up now?" he asked, although part of him (most of him, actually) didn't want to know the answer.

She turned her head to face him. Her eyes were off—they were a lighter blue than Grimm's.

Puck was still mentally comparing their eyes when she leaned forward and kissed him.

O0o0o0O

Sabrina had just started on her eleventh drawing when Daphne walked in carrying her lunch.

"How's it going?" the little girl asked, her big brown eyes looking worried.

Sabrina smiled reassuringly at her sister. "Unless being bored out of my mind means I'm still comatose, I'm fine." She waved her arms and flexed her muscles. "See? I can move just fine; no dizziness, no nausea, no nothi—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before everything went black.

O0o0o0O

"!" Daphne burst into the kitchen, scattering utensils over the floor as she hurtled over to Veronica. "Mom—Sabrina's hurt! She passed out again, and I don't know what to do and she's in her room and Mom—"

Veronica was already running past Daphne and dashing up the stairs. "You go and get Relda and your father," she called over her shoulder. Daphne ran full tilt into the living room to find Henry and Jake scrambling to their feet—they'd already heard her yells.

"What's wrong with Sabrina?" Henry asked, looking intensely at Daphne. She shook her head frantically.

"I don't know! She just fainted out of nowhere," she answered miserably.

"Is she still in bed? She wasn't standing?"

"No, she was lying down, but-," Daphne trailed off as the two men rushed upstairs. Daphne followed, brown braids flying in her wake.

They found Sabrina in her bed as Daphne had left her, Veronica by her side. She and Henry exchanged glances.

"She's fine," Veronica assured everyone. "Just unconscious."

Everyone awake in the room gave an audible breath of relief. Then Henry turned to Jake, giving him an expectant look.

"What?" said Jake, looking bemused.

"Don't you usually give the whole magical breakdown of the situation?" Henry asked.

Jake raised an eyebrow, looking as if he wanted to say something sarcastic… but he thought better of it and answered the real question at hand.

"It looks like she's had some kind of shock, although I'm not sure if it's from a magical source," he replied, giving his brother a look that said, 'Dude, seriously?'

Henry blinked. "What?"

Jake shook his head. "Anyway, she'll be fine. Maybe a little groggy when she comes to, but fine. Nothing to worry about."

Veronica sighed. "Alright then." She turned to Daphne and patted her on the head. "Thanks for telling us, Daphne."

Daphne looked like she was going to smile happily, but the expression faded in the gloom of the situation.

O0o0o0O

There was no helping it: Puck's face was completely red. He wasn't quite sure what to do—how was someone supposed to react in such circumstances?

It struck him how ironic this situation was. He had been the one to kiss Sabrina almost a year ago, and now one of her copies was kissing him. Had she felt as disconcerted as he was right now?

Then he realized that her lips were still touching his—and that they were _moving._ _EW!_ He pulled back roughly, wanting to wipe his mouth but not wanting to use his hands. He compromised, using his sleeve to rub frantically at his mouth.

"What the heck was that for?" he yelled hoarsely, pausing in his scrubbing in order to properly freak out at the girl.

Her startled expression changed to one of hurt. She looked down, and Puck was slightly triumphant to see she was blushing too. Stupid girl.

"Well," she said quietly. "That's not what I hoped you'd do…"

Puck didn't want to know what she had hoped he'd do.

But—what _was_ he going to do? If he brought her to the grown-ups, they'd see her acting all lovey-dovey and gross with him and they would figure out that since this copy was _part_ of Grimm…

Wait a minute. She was a part of Grimm.

So, then…?

He felt the blush rising up to his face again.

He needed to do something. But—what? He searched his brain for ideas.

Nothing. Well, not nothing, but he didn't like the only thing he came up with. Why did Tinkerbell have to give him such a stupid idea?

Oh well—there was nothing else to do. He'd just have to take the copy with him to talk with Pan. Besides, if Pan was as good a problem solver as Tinkerbell said, then he could certainly help with this one, too. In fact, Puck was pretty sure that this one was tied in with the original problem.

Too bad he couldn't solve it without talking to snooty Pan first….

Oh well. Now the only setback right now was how to get the copy over to wherever Pan was without being seen. Flying was the obvious choice, but Puck _really_ didn't want to touch her after what had just happened. Anything else was too risky—he couldn't be sure what she would do.

Crap. He'd just have to stick it out.

Steeling himself, he grabbed the copy around the waist (he tried to ignore her giggle of surprise) and launched himself from the cabin, wings out and buzzing in an instant. He zipped over to the house, passing a couple of the Widow's crows on the way(he hoped she wouldn't say anything).Landing on the roof, he checked the nearest window: Grimm's.

Crap—how bad could this day get? He didn't have time to move to another window—if he did, he'd more than likely be seen. He checked back through the window.

Grimm was asleep, so maybe if he went quietly….

Well, he could do quiet. How else could he have spread peanut butter on her pillow—while she was awake? Of course, then he had been a fly, but it was hard to get into her room, unlock it from the inside, sneak back out, nab the peanut butter from Jake, bring it back up (not as a fly, he couldn't carry it) and spread it perfectly underneath her hair, positioning the peanut butter so that when she laid down it would get all over her long blond locks. And then, as a special something extra, he'd gone back to the kitchen, this time getting the soy sauce from the Old Lady, and tipping it on her pillow and all over the floor where she would step in it later. All this without Grimm noticing until it was too late.

Anyway, if he could do _that_, he could get past her in her sleep. And besides, he'd done it tons of times.

So Puck gently slid the window up (thank goodness that the latch was open), and, holding the copy with one arm, slid into the room. Once inside he flit quickly past the sleeping Grimm, through the door, over the support beams of the hallway that still hadn't been completely repaired, and then, finally, into his room.

The cold winter air hadn't affected the magic in Puck's room. All was still in the full glory of late spring or early summer, and Puck wished he had more time to stay and work on more of his pranking and stuff, but he had to find Pan, and fast. The sooner he resolved this, the better.

He found Pan in a clearing in the woods, sitting on the ground and… wait, was he _meditating?_ Just how dorky was this guy?

Oh well. Hopefully his problem solving abilities were better than his ability to look cool.

Puck coughed loudly, getting the red-headed boy's attention.

He suddenly realized that he actually had to say something—not just anything, but something so in-depth and emotional that Pan figured out what was going on and what could be done to fix it—and he quailed for a second. Then he remembered the pressing weight of the problem and tried to get over it and think of the right thing to say at the same time.

"Er," he said.

Pan raised his eyebrows. "Can I help you?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned and not sarcastic at all.

Puck decided he had to be blunt about it, to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"Yes," he said decidedly, sitting down. He pulled the copy down in front of him, not as gently as he might have with someone else. "_She—,"_—he jerked his head in the copy's direction—"is part of a very pressing problem."

"Hm." Pan's eyebrows creased now, and he looked expectantly at Puck. "Can you… elaborate on this?"

"Sure." So Puck started to explain. He wasn't really good with talking about his feelings, ever—but his mental well-being depended on this. He'd have to try, at least.

"Well, I'd been trying to be more sensitive to Grimm lately, and well—it's been really hard to do that because of all the time she's been spending with you," he said quickly, glancing at Pan nervously. The boy wasn't looking angry, like Puck had thought he would—no, he looked thoughtful, slightly concerned, but not angry. He motioned with his hand for Puck to go on.

"So when she woke up the other day, I really wanted to go over and talk to her—I don't know what, just talking, but when I got there… she… uh…," he trailed off, not wanting to explain what had happened. If he explained that, he'd have to explain what had made him so upset that night. And he really didn't want to do that.

Pan's eyebrows went higher.

Puck remembered that he had to suck it up and get on with it.

"She didn't recognize me," he started miserably. "She thought I was you, and that got me really ticked off."

"Why?" One word, yet it implied so freaking much.

"Well—I like it when people recognize me," he said evasively. "It gives me pride to know that my reputation grows."

Pan didn't look convinced. "I already know that you think I'm a glory-stealing dipwad, alright? I see your dirty looks all the time, plus there's the giant graffiti you plastered on the side of the mess hall. Believe me; I'm not offended that you think that. I understand. So please don't worry about telling me everything if you don't want to—I'll fill in the holes myself."

Puck sighed a bit. This was looking way easier now.

"So I got mad about that, and Tinkerbell got ticked off at me and told me to come and talk to you. I was about to get here, and then I found her in the broken down cabin. I thought it was Grimm, but I found out the hard way that it wasn't." He did _not_ want to say what "the hard way" had been.

"Anyway, I've been trying to figure out something. Since this copy is a part of Grimm, then whatever she does is part of what the original would do, right?" He looked hopefully at Pan. If his theory was right…

"Yes, in principle, I think that's how it works," Pan replied. He looked as if he knew what Puck had been avoiding.

Puck was both unbelievably relieved and unbelievably distressed at the same time; his situation had just become both insanely clear and intensely complicated in an instant.

Now to figure out how to go about solving it—and though Puck didn't like it, that part might be a little hard.

**AN: I hope this makes up for the long wait. I wrote almost 4000 words, not including the ANs. Without ANs: 3730 words, with ANS: Well, I don't know because I haven't finished this one. **

**Anyway, it is exactly 12:04 AM right now, so I better close my laptop and go to sleep already. I have to baby-sit tomorrow, so I can't oversleep… Or is Mom staying home tomorrow? I can't remember—her schedule is so weird. **

**With ANs: 4177 words. I typed a lot. Crap, now it's more… 4187 words. **


	21. Pouring Out Some Exhaustion

**AN: I'm kind of afraid that my writing style has rotted a little, because I go so long without practicing. Oh well, I can only hope to keep it up to my current caliber :) **

**Also, thank yous to all the wonderful people that commented and favorited this story during my hiatus, you really urged me to begin writing this again.**

**QotU: **do you want me to draw a cover for your sisters Grimm fanfic? Write me a hundred word review telling me why I should. (Curlscat it doesn't count for you, obviously.)

* * *

><p>The day was almost over; only a few more hours to go- and yet it still seemed like there were ages left before Sabrina could finally go to sleep. How could her parents do that? Just one time passing out, and she was stuck in bed for another two days!<p>

It was hard to think of the reason she could possibly have fainted. She had felt fine, after all. Why did her parents always have to worry about her?

Sabrina looked over her recent drawings (if she could really even call them that). The one on the top of the pile was a picture of a rabbit sitting by a log- or was it a cat and a litter box? She couldn't really tell anymore.

Now that the sun was finally sinking below the trees it was harder to see things. Abstract shapes squatted in the shadows as she scribbled in the dim light.

_Ah_, she thought absentmindedly,_ I have a candle somewhere in here..._ She reached once again under her bed, this time finding the squat cream colored candle and some matches she had in her bedside drawer. She lit the candle, placing it on the little desk, and then returned the matches to their place under her bed.

As she sat down again, her shadow flickered. Hm. It was kind of funny, now that she thought of it, how much the copies resembled her shadow. They were like her, very closely similar to her, in fact—but at the same time the they were so different that it would be ridiculous not to notice.

But even then, the differences between the copies themselves were astounding too. She had caught a glimpse of the copy they had found first; the girl had been so fragile looking, so frightened all the time Sabrina had seen her.

However, the second one– the second one was so angry looking, so furious.  
>Could it be that the sword had separated her personality in the Hero's Change as well as her physical form? And then, each of the copies got a certain part of her personality when the Change went wrong? The idea seemed to make sense.<p>

What about now though? Since Jake had taken away the catalyst, did that mean that the process would revert to normal and the clones would be fixed?

Sabrina kind of doubted that would happen. If it did, then wouldn't the copies have shown some sort of change by now?

She sighed a bit. Now that she had so many important questions for the sword, she had no way of contacting it. She regretted not taking the opportunity to learn these things when she had the chance.

Oh well. What's done is done, and she had some other things to worry about.

Sabrina remembered the sword saying that all the copies would get swords of their own, yet the clones they had found so far were weaponless. Did that mean that the swords were different somehow too? And if that was true, who knew what sort of messed up personalities the clone swords had?

Another thought hit her. Where were the clone swords? And what about the other copies? Where in the world could they be? Sabrina wasn't quite sure of what they were capable of, but she was pretty sure it would cause no end of trouble.

The thoughts and questions still swirled around in her head, and Sabrina desperately wished she could get out of that bed and do something. The urge to sneak out of her room just once was enormous, except— where would she go?  
>She had an idea, and while it wasn't the most pleasant one, it was certainly the most doable.<p>

She shrugged to herself. Anything was better than staying in this bed any longer.

Oo0o0o0oO

Puck really was stuck. There was no way to fix this problem without possibly making it worse. And while that might have excited him in any other situation, this was not one of those times. He needed to make sure he could get this done and over with quickly, without anyone else hearing of it. No one else could know his feelings— it was bad enough that he knew about her feelings right now.

Even though he hadn't had literally any experience with this type of thing, he instinctually knew that telling her now would be a really bad idea. Especially since if he told her now, he'd have to explain why he'd told her about it.  
>He really didn't want to have to explain any of that. So, once again, he was forced to wait. Wait until the right moment, when everything was good and set and wouldn't make it more complicated.<p>

But when would that moment finally roll around? He hated waiting.

He rubbed his forehead. The branch he was sitting on creaked a little, warning him of someone's presence.

"So you're going to wait, huh?" Hearing Pan's voice both relieved and irritated him. At least it wasn't the copy, he thought sourly.

Puck didn't bother to look up. "Yeah," he said. "There's not much else I could do without screwing up the situation, not to mention I don't even know how to go about all of this. I think it would have just been better for me if I hadn't noticed it in the first place," he mumbled, leaning back into the tree with a feeling of resigned hopelessness.

"Oh, don't say that," replied Peter. "If you didn't know about it, you'd just go about making a bigger fool of yourself."

'_Bigger_'? Puck thought sourly. "So you're saying I was making a fool of myself before?"

Pan shrugged a bit, grinning regretfully. "I have to admit you kinda have. Sabrina obviously has feelings for you, and yet you constantly put her down and play with her feelings. It's actually kind of childish."

Puck felt the blush rising to his face and growled. "Well, excuse me for acting like a child. If you hadn't noticed, being a kid was kinda my thing." He peered at Pan around the trunk. "Speaking of which, wasn't that your thing too? What happened to you?"

The redhead smiled a bit, rubbing his neck absentmindedly. "Actually, the same sort of thing happened to me. It was a while back, though. The only real difference was that I didn't do anything about it."

Despite himself, Puck was intrigued. "But you let yourself grow up? You obviously aren't a kid anymore."

"Same could be said for you, ya know," Pan chuckled. "But yeah, I let myself grow up."

"Why?"

"Well, for one thing, she was growing up. Every time I saw her she was getting older and more mature. I couldn't compete with the 'other boys' she would sometimes talk about, and I decided that even if I would do nothing else, I would grow up with her."

Puck sat in silence for a little while, mulling what the other boy had said. Would he be willing to do the same for Grimm? He honestly wasn't sure about it at the moment.

Pan interrupted his silence. "But now what about you? Why did you fall for Sabrina?"

Puck scowled. "How should I know? Chance? Lack of options?"

Pan chuckled again. "I think that'd be more of Sabrina's reasoning that yours. You've had four thousand years to find someone."

Puck blinked. He hadn't thought about that before. Why was it Sabrina, and not some other girl from his history?

"I guess... I guess it was that she isn't quite like the other girls I had seen before. She's tough and independent, and she doesn't stand for anything I pulled on her. I think initially I just saw her as a challenge, as someone who needed to be taught a lesson. Something happened down the road, and now it's like this."

Puck was feeling more and more emotionally drained as the conversation went on. He wasn't used to talking about things like this. Usually when an emotionally compromising situation came up he just threw a glop grenade or two, and the other person would just leave him alone. This whole "talking out his feelings" thing was new to him, and although he wasn't sure if he liked it, he wasn't sure if he hated it all that much either.

He was suddenly exhausted thinking about all of this. It was just too much for an adolescent fairy boy to handle. Breaking a twig off of the branch he was sitting on, he wondered how to change the topic without setting Pan off into another life story.

Oo0o0o0oO

Sabrina slipped quickly out of her room, closing the door behind her with a soft click. The hall floor was nearly finished, making it much easier to get across— but Sabrina knew she'd have to move carefully. She didn't know all of the creaky spots yet, so stepping with caution was the best option.

Once safely through the hall, she arrived at her destination: Puck's room.

For a second she had doubts about it– what would he say if he found her in his room? And at night, to boot? Her face flushed a bit as she chastised herself. It was perfectly fine for her to go in there, she'd been there countless times.

Besides, he wouldn't find her anyway. She was just going in there to stretch her legs and get some fresh air.

She steeled herself before opening the door, readying her excuse in case he saw her. The doorknob turned smoothly in her hand, and she was in.

The near silence was new to her. Normally the forest was full of noise and life, but now the only sounds she could hear were the gentle rustlings of the night animals. This nocturnal forest was almost uninviting in its stillness.

Sabrina exhaled sharply. This wasn't much of a bother. The only thing that really got to her was how dark it was. The shadows looked like they might swallow her whole if she touched them.

She snuck into them anyway, the shadows clinging and then sliding off her as she walked. She passed small clearings, each with a different animal sleeping inside. Normally animals wouldn't sleep in such open spaces– they would sleep in protected spots in the trees or in holes. Sabrina guessed that maybe the animals felt safe enough here that they didn't have to do that. But, what about animal instinct? She'd had a pet lizard when she was younger, and it and always slept in its plastic cave even though it was perfectly safe. Why would these animals behave differently when the situation was much the same?

Sabrina's curiosity got the better of her, and she soon stepped softly into the nearest clearing. The raccoon sleeping soundly in the center of the meadow was at an odd angle, almost as of it had just fainted mid step.

Right next to the raccoon, a little ways off, was a tiny golden flower. It looked normal, but it smelled like magic. Sabrina could feel the magical pulse threatening to pull her in– the fragrance of the flower was quite sweet and seductively nostalgic. The magic in the air made her nose tingle as she breathed in.

The dim light that reflected off the petals glittered like real gold. Sabrina was trying to wrench herself away from magic the flower put off when she saw, in the corner of her vision, another flower, and then another, and on and on down a line.

Curiosity took hold even stronger than the magic had, and Sabrina was quickly off and following the trail of flowers.

The trail led her to yet another clearing. The glittering blooms had gradually become more and more numerous as she went, and soon she couldn't take another step without trampling some.

The magic in the air was stifling. Her eyelids were heavy, her limbs leaden, and she realized with a drowsy chagrin what the magic smell meant.

It was a sleeping spell, of course it was. That's why the raccoon had passed out earlier.

Well, Sabrina had had enough of sleeping to last her a long while, thank you.

She tore her eyes open, thrusted her feet behind her, and forced herself to take five large steps backward.

The magic was a little less stifling now, and Sabrina forced herself to check her surroundings. What can I see? She asked her self, trying to keep her mind off of the sudden weariness in her body.

She could see flowers, of course. Lots and lots of little golden flowers. Obviously magic. Up. She saw the stars in the sky, so she knew it was really late and most animals were asleep. Maybe an owl or two was awake. Ahead. There was a big form on the ground a good ways off, probably about fifty yards. The flowers around it were so numerous it looked like the form was sleeping in a puddle of gold.

Her eyelids threatened to close. Sabrina pushed herself back once again, forcing herself to look at the ground in front of her. She didn't check behind her, only used her hands to feel for tree trunks. Her eyes she kept glued to the flowers.

When her fingers no longer brushed bark, she finally let herself turn around. She was back in the first clearing, although the raccoon had up and left a while before she arrived.

Breathing heavily, Sabrina leaned against a tree as the powerful magic drained from her body. It was lucky she had held up that long— one more deep breath in that air might have put her into another coma.

The first flower from before sat there, looking quite innocent. Sabrina kicked it, scuffing the ground with her shoe to make sure the roots were squashed. Now it looked pitiful, but Sabrina didn't particularly care.

Oo0o0o0oO

Puck was tired. No more talking with Pan; he was done. Done. Sure, he was grateful for his help, but the guy just talked too much. Nerd.

The stars were fully out by then, and the few night sounds were calming. A slight breeze rustled the branch he was sitting on, making it sway gently. After a little while of this, Puck felt his eyelids droop.

He finally woke up when the raindrops started pattering on his face. Yuck– rain was almost as bad as having to take a shower. Looking around, he noticed that Pan wasn't hanging around anymore. Puck vaguely wondered where he'd run off to, but soon shrugged it off. Didn't matter where the nerd slept.

Morosely, he got up and lightly pushed off from the tree. He hovered in the air for a bit, knowing that he'd have to fly slowly in the rain.

It was only when he had flown a few hundred yards that he realized he'd forgotten someone.

Oo0o0o0oO

Sabri– no, she wasn't Sabrina– she got up quickly and walked down to the edge of the forest. She'd had enough of listening. Puck wasn't going to talk to her, obviously. She needed to go find someone else.

Daphne. Of course, her sister would love to see her. Or... Well, they weren't exactly sisters, we're they, but maybe they could still have fun talking. Maybe Daphne wouldn't think she was so weird.

Her chest hurt. Why did it hurt so much? She was fine, she hadn't been hit or anything, but it still felt like she'd been punched in the gut.

_She was really confused. Sometimes she felt like she could just smile for no reason at all, but then she felt so irritated and lonely and upset. All of these different emotions came out around specific people, too. Around Peter she felt warm and comfortable, companionable, even. At the thought of seeing Daphne she was warm too, but she was also a little lonely. Daphne was so often in a world of her own, so she could sort of understand that feeling, at least._

_But yet... When she thought about Puck, all of the emotions came roiling together in her stomach. There was irritation, upset, anger, even a little bit of nervousness and jealousy. She didn't like those emotions. But the thought of not seeing Puck, or not talking to him or fighting with him or even just passing him made her stomach heave with stronger emotion than before. _

_Why? She didn't know why all of this was happening, she didn't know why it was all so crazy, or why it was only with him or why it was always the nervousness and irritation that hit afterwards and why did she care so much. The memories were faint and fuzzy, the emotions were the only thing that shone through clearly. _

_She wanted out. She didn't want to have this crazyness go on anymore. _  
><em>The rain began to beat down on her. She ignored it. The water was almost welcome.<em>

_What would she give to just stop all of these emotions? Would it be worth it to try? To not have to deal with this barrage of feelings every time she talked to someone? _

_Suddenly she was crying. Had she really been thinking about killing herself? She could never have done that. Daphne needed her, her parents needed her, her brother needed her. Maybe even... Maybe even Puck needed her._

_The rain came down and covered her face to the point where she didn't even know if she was crying or not_.

Oo0o0o0oO

Sabrina was exhausted. Rain had eventually started coming down, so she had taken shelter in a little cave made from a boulder and an enormous fallen rock. She was safe from the rain, but not from the wet ground, and she could feel the seat of her pants get soaked as she waited out the storm. Great.

She really was beat, though. In fact, golden magic sleepy flowers or no, Sabrina was out as soon as she closed her eyes.

The rain continued to pour as a sullen figure got closer and closer to the little cave in the trees.

**AN: Welp. 3 thousand words for ya. I tried to make it extra long to make up for the fact I don't update as much anymore, but i wasn't so sure I could get it to go any further, ya know?**

**Emotionallyconfused!Sabrina clone is the weirdest to write, I must say. She's so OOC it almost kills me. **

**I'll try to update in another two weeks, considering I have school and maybe a job and stuff. **


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